Egg producers call for consumers to buy local after industry’s quick recovery from bird flu

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Egg farmers say demand has significantly decreased in recent months after a faster-than-expected industry recovery from the avian bird flu outbreak. Producers in South Australia's Riverland are calling for consumers to consider buying local.

Transcript

00:00Darren Letton sees eggs he can't sell. He says demand for his product has significantly

00:07decreased after chickens in the eastern states recovered from the avian bird flu.

00:12The big supermarkets are able to get access to their normal supply, but there's quite

00:17a lot of eggs coming over from the eastern states and going into the Adelaide market.

00:23At its peak, bird flu wiped out around 10% of Australia's egg-laying chickens. The recovery

00:28has been an unexpected turnaround for the industry.

00:31A lot of farmers have obviously brought more chickens into their systems and now we've

00:35got the opposite. We've got actual eggs just coming out of our ears.

00:39With shelves now fully stocked at supermarkets across SA for the first time in years, Coles

00:44and Woolworths say they'll continue to support local producers.

00:48A Woolworths spokesperson told the ABC close to 95% of eggs sold in South Australia were

00:53sourced from within the state. Meanwhile, a Coles spokesperson said it had recently doubled

00:58shelf space for their eight South Australian egg brands.

01:01The SA produce market says the return of eggs has opened more doors for supporting local

01:06producers. We've gone from a situation where we've had hardly any eggs on the shelves, but

01:11you've always found them in your local fruit and vegetable store and the reason being is

01:14that we have a little bit of a different supply chain.

01:17An abundance of eggs in the market is also helping household budgets.

01:21We certainly have seen prices of eggs come down and even those free range eggs as well,

01:26which is fantastic. A call to support local eggs for every budget and every place.

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