Prices of eggs in the Saudi market could go back to the normal range in five months as Ministry of Agriculture has started to give approval to farm owners for rearing egg-laying chicken in their poultry farms. Sources at poultry farms in Al-Kharj, around 80 km south of Riyadh, said work such as fumigation, cleaning and repairs to the cages has already started after the ministry permitted them to reintroduce rearing the egg-laying chicken on their farms. Muhammad Haroon, a veterinarian at a poultry farm in Al-Kharj, said around 100,000 chicken have been introduced Monday in his farm while work to bring an equal number of one-day chicken in the adjacent poultry house was under way. He said around 400,000 chicken, all egg-laying were destroyed after the ministry ordered their culling in November last. He said the culling incurred huge losses in Al-Kharj and other nearby cities, where the H5N1, a deadly avian influenza virus, was reportedly discovered. However, as regards the price of egg which has touched as high as SR16 and above for a 30-egg tray could only come back to previous range of SR9 to SR11 after five months, the age of a chicken when it starts laying eggs. Some four million birds largely poultry (egg-laying chicken), ostriches and other domestic birds such as pigeons were culled on at least 15 separate infected farms under the supervision of municipal and agriculture ministry after the outbreak of bird flu in November. Saudi agriculture ministry workers oversee the culling of chicken in Al-Kharj. Earlier, the Saudi health and agriculture authorities announced that besides cases in Al-Kharj, other bird flu cases were discovered in Duarma, 60 km west of Riyadh, and Al Hayathem, 100 km southwest of Riyadh and Muzhemia. “Culling is the most effective method of controlling the spread of disease,” Fahad Balghunaim, Minister of Agriculture, told a press conference after Saudi Arabia culled about 4,290,975 birds within a five-km radius of the infected farms. Poultry at 11 farms was culled, including the pigeon market in Riyadh and egg farms in Al-Kharj, Duarma, Muzhemia, Sahaba, Al-Niyya and Thadiq. The minister explained that the infection had affected only egg-laying chicken and not young chicken. The culling of egg-laying chicken caused the shortage of egg supply in the market leading to a price hike. However, after the news of H5N1 outbreak some neighboring countries imposed a ban on the import of Saudi egg and poultry products. But that did not keep the price of eggs from increasing in the domestic market. Now there are reports that Qatar has already lifted the ban on import of poultry products from Saudi Arabia including eggs. Poultry shopowners here said that the export of egg to Qatar would further put a pressure on domestic market and an increase of price is imminent. “The price of egg during summer is usually at its lowest. But following the news of lifting of ban of Saudi egg to other Gulf countries will only lead further price hike,” said a poultry shopowner. __
