What does the arrival of bird flu in Australia mean for poultry and will eggs be more expensive?

Automatically composed with AI from the cited sources

Ingham’s Group, Australia’s largest poultry producer, announced a “complete lockdown” in Western Australia last month after the first wild bird H5N1 cases, while the state’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry warned that an outbreak in commercial flocks could push egg prices above A$10 a carton. No H5N1 infections have been detected in Australian poultry, though the strain has spread in wild birds across three states. Previous H7 outbreaks in 2024–25 led to the culling of about 2 million chickens, a 7% loss of the national layer flock, and higher egg prices. The warning follows the 21 June arrival of H5 bird flu in wild birds.