Eggs are at present, South Africa’s raging commodity.
The country has been battling with one of its worst outbreaks of bird flu – a case that has seen millions of chickens dead over the past few weeks, supplies of poultry meat have also been threatened and supermarkets across the nation have been experiencing the scarcity of eggs.
Experts have predicted that the egg shortage will make the sought after ingredient to jump in price – a very dire situation as it is one of the most affordable sources of protein for the millions living in poverty.
The South Africa farmers in an attempt to stop the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza ( an extremely deadly and infectious type of bird flu) have culled more than seven million egg-laying chickens, amounting to 20-30% of the country’s whole chicken stock, according to the South African Poultry Association.
Many shoppers have discovered that shops still selling eggs have put limits on how many can be bought.
Online shopping sites are not faring any better as several consumers hoping to purchase eggs on the web have been met with the messages: “unavailable” or “low in stock”.
Businesses have not been left out as they have also been impacted by the flu.
The top South African poultry producer: Astral Foods had in a trading update at the end of September said that the outbreak had so far cost it $11.5m.
The company had additionally joined other producers in warning that South Africa could experience a scarcity of chicken meat for the next few months.
Farmers and industry expect that it will take six months for the poultry sector to restore the chickens it culled, meaning that the shortage of poultry products would probably last through the festive season and into 2024.
In an effort to restore confidence to its consumers and businesses, the South African government announced that it was already considering purchasing bird flu vaccines.
