Africa and Oceania are not significantly involved in the trade in shell eggs or egg products.

World exports of hen eggs in shell are close to two million tonnes a year, while sales from African countries average less than 10,000 tonnes, with the corresponding figure for Oceania even smaller at fewer than 5,000 tonnes (Table 1).

Shell Egg Trade in Africa

South Africa is the leading exporter in the region though, even here, the latest figure for 2013 falls short of 4,000 tonnes.

In 2011, the most recent year for detailed figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the bulk (1,889 tonnes) of South Africa’s exports went to Mozambique, the only other significant purchases being made by Angola (331 tonnes) and Zimbabwe (216 tonnes).

Africa is far more active on the import side of the shell egg business as the total purchased by countries in this region amounted to a record “high” of almost 63,500 tonnes in 2011 (Table 2).

In that year, the biggest buyer was Angola taking 25,200 tonnes, followed by Liberia with 7,700 tonnes and Libya with 5,650 tonnes. In addition, a handful of countries purchased more than 2,000 tonnes.

Shell Egg Trade in Oceania

In Oceania, the leading exporter of shell eggs has been New Zealand. Of the near 2,500 tonnes exported in 2011, its leading customers were Papua New Guinea (738 tonnes), New Caledonia (536 tonnes), Fiji (391 tonnes) and the Solomon Islands (235 tonnes). Total exports in 2013 amounted to less than 2,000 tonnes.

Little Trade in Egg Products in Africa or Oceania

Combined exports of dried egg from countries in both Africa and Oceania are small representing less than one per cent of the global total. Imports are a little higher at around four per cent (Tables 3 and 4).

The involvement of these regions in the liquid egg trade is even less significant accounting for around 0.5 per cent of the world total (Tables 5 and 6).

July 2015