The ongoing shortage of eggs is mounting and causing serious panic in the country, as government is urged to step in and prevent the already volatile situation.
Leading industry expert on dairy, Jonathan Katz of Hume International, said government is required to implement immediate legislative intervention and assurances for importers to step up and plug the gap on shelves.
“Shell eggs, commonly called table eggs, are not imported in large enough volumes to meet local demand currently,” said Katz.
“With the onset of the recent egg shortage, there’s an urgent need to re-evaluate the efficacy of South Africa’s obstructive import restrictions.
“The government needs to intervene to temporarily lower import restrictions on eggs and relook the regulations to ensure that this type of situation doesn’t happen again.”
Imported eggs
Katz said the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s regulations regarding the grading, packing, and marking of eggs intended for sale in South Africa prohibit the sale of imported eggs after 40 days from the date of hatching.
“Well-refrigerated eggs remain edible for up to six months, which could theoretically allow egg imports to bridge the supply shortage as local producers are hard hit by the bird flu outbreak.
“Imports play a critical role in filling shortages in the local market if and when local suppliers fail to meet demand.
“But South Africa currently only imports around $1.6-million [about R31-million] worth of eggs per year, making it the 118th largest importer in the world according to trade data released by the Observatory of Economic Complexity.”
He explained that in an ideal world and under optimal conditions, it would take two weeks to ship eggs from port to port.
“If the shipping company chooses to trans-ship, which involves moving the eggs from one vessel to another, it could add an extra two days to the schedule.
“Plus, if there are issues in getting the eggs out of the exporting country, that might be an additional week. Then, any issues at the local port would push the shipment beyond the tight 40-day period.”
Katz added that the local industry is struggling to get ahead of the curve and is currently focused on bringing fertilised layer eggs into South Africa to rebuild commercial flock rather than the table eggs that can be supplied directly to consumers.
“While this may resolve the crisis in the long term and stabilise the local market, the process will take a few months to complete and will not solve the immediate shortage.”
