Photo: Sabrina Dean
Chairperson of the SA Poultry Association’s (SAPA) Egg Board, Willie Bosoga, told Farmer’s Weekly that more than 400 000kg of eggs valued at nearly R8,6 million had been imported by South Africa from Brazil between June and September.
“We are not sure whether the imports will continue,” he said.
Head of economic and agribusiness intelligence at Agbiz, Wandile Sihlobo, recently reported that the 153t of eggs imported by South Africa in the first two quarters of the year, had surpassed the volume of egg imported annually during the past 17 years.
Bosoga said the imports had started picking up following the 2017 avian influenza outbreak in South Africa, which decimated about 20% of the national layer flock. About 4,7 million layers died of the disease or had to be culled, resulting in losses in excess of R1,5 billion to the industry.
The national layer flock had, however, since recovered and supply had been restored to previous levels, making imports unnecessary, he said.
Bosoga said the informal sector was hardest hit by imports and SAPA, through the Egg Board, was meeting with the department of agriculture in an effort to reduce egg imports.
