March 9, 2022

New Zealand poultry industry affected by worker shortages due to COVID-19

Michael Brooks, New Zealand Poultry Industry Association executive director said COVID-19 has resulted in up to 45% loss of staff in some poultry processing plants in the country, RNZ New Zealand reported.

He said prior to Omicron variant outbreak, the association's members were already facing worker shortages of about 10% to 15% as the supply of migrant workers and backpackers have been cut off.

Brooks said companies will be reducing production, with a focus on supplying products that require less labour such as chicken carcasses and breast meat.

Poultry processing plants in the states of Auckland and Waikato were hit hardest by the COVID-19 related worker shortages.

Vince Arbuckle, Ministry for Primary Industries deputy director-general of food safety said the ministry was aware of the worker shortages and will monitor the situation closely as animal welfare is not an issue at present.

New Zealand consumes about 125 million chickens annually.

-      RNZ New Zealand