The arrival on the market in 2024 of a second hatchery in Saint-Joseph sent the small world of chick breeding breeders on the island into turmoil this Wednesday, October 9. An anger expressed this morning before the prefecture by a distribution of surplus eggs. Producers draw attention to the risk of market deregulation.
Daniel Benard / Henry Claude Elma
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Published on October 9, 2024 at 3:17 p.m.,
updated October 9, 2024 at 3:31 p.m.
This Wednesday, October 9, in front of the prefecture, part of the poultry industry organized a free distribution of eggs resulting from an overproduction of producer breeders.
Watch the report from Réunion la 1ère below:
Angry breeders distribute eggs on the Barachois
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©Reunion the 1st
Until 2023, the pei chick market looked like a long, quiet river. Couvée d’or, the only player on the market, organized the local sector of day-old chicks intended for consumption as it wished. Farmers from the south, a group created in 2010, poultry producers in turn decided to launch into the production of chicks intended for local farms.
For the group, the start of the adventure involves the importation of live chicks from France. An inconclusive initiative due to their high mortality rate. Hence the idea of importing eggs and hatching them locally.
The Saint-Joseph hatchery imports up to 70,000 eggs per week. These are as many chicks as Couvée d’Or, a historic hatcher, no longer sells to broiler producers. The production schedules in place no longer correspond to market needs.
A new player arriving on the Reunion Island market is disrupting our activity; we have lost roughly 25% since the start of the new tool.
Hervé Donnars, director of Couvée d’Or
The contracts entered into between Couvée d’Or and the breeding breeders oblige the hatchery to sell the production of its partners. Since the arrival of her competitor, she finds herself with thousands of eggs that she cannot put in the incubator. This explains the free egg distribution operation in front of the prefecture this Wednesday.
Some breeding breeders fear a drop in orders from the sole buyer Couvée d’Or. Who says reduction in orders, says direct threats to the very existence of these professionals.
Fewer eggs sold would be a disaster for some producers. The prices imposed by the historic client Couvée d’Or do not allow them to live decently from the fruit of their labor.
I don’t make a living from my activity, I wonder about my future.
One hundred eggs at 3.40 euros, a price that hasn’t changed for years. It is complicated for these suppliers to cope with galloping inflation. The expenditure chapter has experienced dizzying increases: water, electricity, food everything has increased, except revenue. The idea of bringing competition into play is gaining ground among breeders. The arrival of a competitor has not finished shaking things up among Reunion poultry farmers.
