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Layer chicken industry depressed on back of turbulent egg market

Business
THE layer chicken industry in Zimbabwe was depressed on the back of a turbulent egg market, an industry official has said.

THE layer chicken industry in Zimbabwe was depressed on the back of a turbulent egg market, an industry official has said.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

In an industry update, Zimbabwe Poultry Association chairperson Solomon Zawe said layer breeder stocks in 2016 were slightly depressed compared to 2015 and markedly lower than 2014 ones.

He, however, noted that local production of hatching eggs increased by 15%, against a decline of 86% in imported eggs, resulting in an 18% reduction of total hatching eggs set in hatcheries.

“Similarly, sexed pullet sales and retentions declined by 13%,” Zawe said.

Furthermore, he said the price of sexed pullets was at $1,16 per pullet in 2016, compared to $1,40 in June 2015.

Production of table eggs in the large-scale sector continued to recover from the lows of mid-2015, Zawe said.

“The number of birds in-production stabilised at 890 000 for the last six months of 2016. Table egg production continues to increase from a low of 1,35 million dozen in April 2015 to 2,26 million dozen in December 2016,” he said.

Zawe said the price of table eggs remained depressed in 2016 and averaged $3,16 per tray of 30 eggs.

“It is estimated that total egg production has declined from a peak of five million dozen achieved in June, primarily due to the reduction of sexed pullet sales into the smallholder sector, resulting in a decline in production from this sector from three million dozen eggs in March to 2,2 million dozen in December,” he said.