January 6, 2023

 

Czech Republic egg prices expected to increase due to bird flu

Egg prices in the Czech Republic are expected to increase due to the spread of bird flu in the country, with a recent case infecting 750,000 laying hens, accounting for 15% of the 5 million hens in the country, Expats.cz reported.

 

The Czech-Moravian Poultry Union said the 750,000 hens would have laid over 600,000 eggs per day.

 

The Czech Republic relies heavily on its own domestic egg production. Farms provide about 85% of the eggs that are sold there. Although imports from nearby nations may help to make up for the shortage of eggs, bird flu has also raised prices in other nations.

 

Due to inflation, egg prices have already increased significantly since last year. Data from the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) showed eggs were 71.9% more expensive in November 2022 than they were a year earlier, while food prices as a whole had increased by 27.1%.

 

At the end of 2022, bird flu was identified in the Plze region's village of Brod nad Tichou. Initially, one of the three sizable halls run by the agricultural company Ceska Drubez, was to be used for the culling of approximately 120,000 hens.

 

But tests revealed that the infection had spread to a different area of the hall. The Czech Republic's State Veterinary Administration (SVS) announced that the entire flock of 750,000 hens in three halls will be killed because the spread of the disease could not be stopped. Veterinarians made the decision to kill all 220,000 of the hens in the entire hall.

 

Gabriela Dlouha, chairwoman of the Czech-Moravian Poultry Union, Ceska Drubez is the largest farm in terms of capacity and is not typical by Czech standards. In the largest halls of other businesses in country, there are 70,000 hens.

 

How long it will take for Ceska Drubez to rebuild its flock and resume egg production is unknown. Production could quickly resume if the company can get hold of mature hens, but because of bird flu, there are currently not enough mature hens in Europe. A

 

Dlouha said it will take about 20 weeks for new-born chicks that are purchased by Ceska Drubez to begin laying.

 

Dlouha also said that imports can partially make up for the lack of eggs on the Czech market, as some foreign farms that were forced to cull their flocks in November are beginning to recover.

 

In November, the Czech Republic imported more eggs than usual at about 35 million eggs. Dlouha said the amount Czech business owners are willing to pay for imported eggs will determine the volume of imports.

 

-      Expats.cz