Africa-Press – Eswatini. While there has been an unfortunate drop in production of day-old chicks for October and beginning of November, Elangeni Chicks is back to full production.
This was revealed by Elangeni Chicks Managing Director (MD) Jeremy Boyd, when responding to questions from this publication regarding the impact of the outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 and H7 in South Africa (SA). Boyd mentioned that it was worth noting that Elangeni Chicks currently produces hatching eggs locally. He said it was unfortunate that at this time the one local flock was coming to the end of its production cycle and the new flock had not reached the start of its production cycle. He said this meant that local production was at a reduced level. Boyd stated that the majority of their eggs were being sourced from the largest supplier of hatching eggs in SA. He said, however, due to the devastating impact of the HPAI currently being experienced in SA their supplier enacted the force majeure clause in the supply contract and stopped supplying Elangeni Chicks with hatching eggs at the end of September 2023.
Boyd said the stop in supply meant that they needed to source hatching eggs from Turkey and Brazil. He mentioned that it took some time to secure the source and necessary permits to start receiving hatching eggs into Eswatini. “This has unfortunately meant that there will be a reduced supply of chicks for the month of October and the start of November,” said Boyd. The MD mentioned that the hatching eggs coming out of Turkey and Brazil were almost double the price of what they were paying the SA supplier for hatching eggs. In terms of pricing effect brought by the outbreak, Boyd stated that the significant increase in hatching egg costs has unfortunately meant they also needed to increase the cost of day old-chicks to all their customers. “We have done everything possible to limit the increase,” he said.
Demand
When quizzed if they were able to meet the demand from their customers, Boyd said they were now back to full production, hence they were able to meet the demand of day-old chicks from customers going forward. On projections towards the festive season, Boyd said with the supply chain of hatching eggs running smoothly, they were confident that Eswatini would have enough chicken for the festive season and beyond. The MD added that they had been working closely with the veterinary department since the HPAI problems started to unfold in SA. “We are confident that the procedures they have put in place to safeguard the country are and will continue to be effective so long as any poultry importations are done legally,” said the MD.
It has been reported the cost of the day-old chicks had gone up from around E1 250 to E1 750 per box. This translates to a 40 per cent increase. The increased cost of the breeder birds would be extended to the customers as the broiler farmers would have no choice but to hike the prices as well. Currently a live chicken costs around E75 and through these hikes it is set to go up to E95 each. Given the volatility of economy, families might not afford to buy chickens for the festive season like they did before. For instance, if a family would purchase 10 chickens at E750, it would not need E950 for the same number of chickens.
In a recent interview with this publication, Africa Chicks’ Julia Saulus said the prices of eggs, chicks, chicken, and any other poultry products had increased over the last few weeks due to the shortage of raw materials from neighboring SA. She said this was the continued effect of Avian Influenza that has seen about 10 million producer birds culled or killed after being infected in SA. “As a result of the shortage of hatching eggs, local hatcheries were importing fertile eggs from Turkey and Brazil, securing the production of chicken in Eswatini and yes, unfortunately it all comes at a much higher cost,” she said. Saulus added that the cost was still, however, lower than the alternative if not having any chicken.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
