South Africa: South Africa Opens Market for U.S. Shell Eggs
In July 2018, South Africa officially opened its market to imports of U.S. shell eggs. South Africa is ordinarily self-sufficient and does not import large volumes of shell eggs. In 2017, South Africa imported one ton of shell eggs, a 40 percent increase from the previous year. The local egg industry is still recovering from the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N8) outbreaks of 2017 that has increased the demand for imports. Between January and May 2018, South Africa has already imported 50 tons of table eggs, valued at $74,000. Post estimates that South African shell eggs imports will reach about 75 tons in 2018. The U.S. will compete with Brazil, which enjoys substantially all of the market share.