BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
THE egg producing industry grew by 2% to four million eggs in the second quarter of 2019, largely driven by small-scale producers, an industry official has said.
Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) chairperson Solomon Zawe said the egg producing industry was stable, with prices on the market firming.
“While large-scale table egg production decreased by 7% in the second quarter to 1,9 million dozens per month, small-scale table egg production is estimated to have increased by 11% to 2,2 million dozen per month and total egg production is estimated to have increased by 2% to 4 million dozen per month (approximately three eggs per capita per month,” he said.
Zawe said the wholesale price of table eggs increased by 55% in the period under review, peaking at $14,65 per tray of 30 eggs.
He said large-scale layer production stocks (growing and in-lay) continued to increase and in the second quarter averaged 1,2 million birds per month.
The ZPA boss said poultry feeds continued to dominate the stockfeed industry and in the first quarter of 2019, production averaged 40,562mt/month (worth $79,3m), being an increase of 23% in quantity and 273% in value over the same period in 2018.
Poultry feeds accounted for 68% of all feeds produced by weight and 72% by monetary value. The production of both layer and breeder feeds were 72% and 13% higher than in the second quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2019, respectively, he said.
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On average, prices of raw materials procured in the second quarter of 2019 increased by 78%. Notable increases were maize (136%), low CP cotton meal (178%), whole cotton seed (212%), urea (136%), salt (143%) and fine limestone flour (131%).
“Similarly, prices of feeds in the second quarter increased by 84% compared to first quarter prices,” he said.
Notable exceptions were the prices of layer rearing (56%), poultry breeder (53%), dairy meal (168%), beef feeds (111 to 126%) and horse feeds (152%). Average weighted wholesale prices of broiler and layer feeds rose by 76% and 82% in the second quarter of 2019 to $2,035 and $1,640/mt, respectively.
