Sapa estimates R3bn loss to poultry industry after 7.5m birds culled

In an update presented to the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development on October 20, the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) has estimated that 30% of the South African poultry industry has been impacted on by the latest outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
Sapa broiler organisation GM Izaak Breitenbach said the current outbreak of the H5N1 and H7N6 strains of HPAI will cost the industry in excess of R1.8-billion, which is the amount of losses the industry experienced during the prior period of HPAI outbreaks in 2019, which saw three-million birds culled.