SA egg stock levels 'replenishing steadily'
The Department of Agriculture has urged consumers not to panic buy eggs.
It says South Africa's egg stocks are replenishing steadily after the opening of import permits for eggs and poultry products from a few countries.
Spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo says the imports did not only begin with the current outbreak of the bird flu.
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"A few countries that include Brazil, USA, Argentina and others have been exporting eggs to South Africa for quite some time, and we are currently processing import permit applications from a few more countries.
"As a department, we don’t dictate which countries should make business sense for South African retailers to import eggs from but only ensure that biosecurity risk assessments are conducted when importers apply for import permits."
He says the outbreak is under control and that 70% of farms that were not infected continue to produce eggs and chickens.
Ngcobo says they have also increased fertilized eggs from 1.9 million to nine million.
"Since the egg production cycle is not too long, we expect the situation to normalize early next year. We will continue to import more eggs should the situation not improve.”
"To prepare for the festive season as we approach December, the following has been imported: Fertilized eggs - nine million, day-old chicks - 37 802 tonnes, egg products - 62 metric tonnes, poultry meat - 30 986 metric tonnes."
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