…Waldschmidt dominates egg market with 89.2% share
Namibia Poultry Industries (NPI) maintained its dominance of the local poultry market in September 2026, accounting for 71.42% of chickens slaughtered nationwide, as total chicken marketing increased by 23.48% year-on-year to 2.18 million birds.
According to the Livestock and Livestock Products Board, NPI slaughtered 1,556,242 chickens during September, followed by Maranatha Abattoir with 325,450 birds, representing 14.93% of the national total.
KADILA ranked third with 229,203 birds, accounting for 10.52%, while Hochland Farms contributed 61,953 birds, equivalent to 2.84% of total slaughter.
Together, NPI and Maranatha accounted for more than 86% of Namibia’s chicken slaughter during the month.
The report showed that total chicken marketing increased from 1,764,841 birds in September 2025 to 2,179,148 birds in September 2026, the highest monthly volume recorded during the 2025–2026 period.
“Chicken marketing in September 2026 was 23.48% higher than in September 2025, at 2,179,148 birds compared with 1,764,841 birds, and was the highest monthly total recorded in 2025–2026. Compared with August (1,987,896 birds), marketing rose by 9.62%. All birds were slaughtered at B&C class abattoirs, with no live exports recorded during the month,” the report stated.
Total chicken marketing for the first nine months of 2026 reached 17.88 million birds, up 24.47% from the 14.36 million birds recorded during the corresponding period in 2025.
Maranatha Abattoir was a major contributor to the increase, having slaughtered 2,083,347 birds between January and September 2026 after recording no slaughter activity in 2025.
According to the report, Maranatha accounted for 59.28% of the year-on-year increase in chicken marketing during the nine-month period.
Excluding Maranatha’s contribution, national chicken marketing still increased by 9.96% compared with the same period last year.
Meanwhile, local poultry meat production increased by 4.75% month-on-month to approximately 3.83 million kilograms in September.
Other chicken cuts, including individually quick-frozen products, accounted for 62.4% of total production, while chicken breast production increased by 35.25%, thighs by 33.13% and drumsticks by 28.82%.
Despite increased production, local poultry producers faced rising feed costs, with soybean prices increasing by 8.75% month-on-month to N$8,823.95 per tonne.
Yellow maize prices also increased by 8.88% to N$3,990.15 per tonne, with both feed ingredients recording annual price increases.
The average chicken carcass price, however, declined by 0.35% month-on-month to N$31.70 per kilogram, representing a 5.29% decrease from N$33.47 recorded in September 2025.
The expansion in domestic poultry production coincided with a decline in chicken imports, which fell by 5.4% year-on-year during the first nine months of 2026 to 15.1 million kilograms.
South Africa remained Namibia’s largest supplier of imported chicken products, accounting for 48.2% of imports, followed by Poland at 23.4%.
In the egg market, Waldschmidt maintained its position as the country’s largest producer, accounting for 89.2% of the 11.14 million eggs marketed locally during September.
The company marketed 9,938,256 eggs, followed by Wentscher with 1,047,000 eggs, while other producers contributed 156,240 eggs.
Total egg marketing increased by 10.49% month-on-month from 10.08 million eggs in August and rose by 4.49% compared with the 10.66 million eggs recorded in September 2025.
Namibia also exported 108,000 eggs to Botswana during the month.
For the first nine months of 2026, total egg marketing reached 94.01 million eggs, representing a 13.09% increase from the 83.13 million eggs marketed during the corresponding period last year.
The average egg price remained unchanged at N$2.42 per egg.
The figures show continued growth in Namibia’s domestic poultry industry, with NPI retaining the largest share of chicken slaughter, Maranatha contributing significantly to increased production volumes and Waldschmidt dominating the local egg market.
