AGRICULTURE NEWS - The impact of the drought has been top of mind for producers, retailers, consumers and government with Stats SA and the National Agriculture Marketing Council reporting that meat prices have increased considerably, but the real increase lies in the price of eggs.
Although South African consumers know a lot about the poultry meat industry, very little is known about the egg industry, even though it is also prone to similar challenges, including price squeezes by retailers, increasing input costs and labour issues, which all have a significant impact on the profitability of egg producers.
In the last two months, the egg industry situation has experienced a sudden shift from an oversupply of eggs to a shortage of eggs, with some producers reporting a balanced environment, while most are reporting a shortage of eggs.
Unlike the broiler industry that is, in most cases, an integrated large-scale production system, the egg industry is made up of medium scale producers, mainly family-owned businesses.
In the last two months, the egg industry situation has experienced a sudden shift from an oversupply of eggs to a shortage of eggs, with some producers reporting a balanced environment, while most are reporting a shortage of eggs.
Unlike the broiler industry that is, in most cases, an integrated large-scale production system, the egg industry is made up of medium scale producers, mainly family-owned businesses.
In today’s difficult times, most producers have great difficulty absorbing high input costs, resulting in more farmers exiting the industry, scaling down operations by emptying their farms earlier than usual, and not restocking.
Reports are surfacing of farmers cancelling large orders of point of lay pullets usually bought to restock, which results in a surplus of point of lay hens in the market.
