Photo/Illutration Workers destroy chickens on Jan. 9 at a farm in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, where bird flu infections are suspected. (Provided by the Aichi prefectural government)

A spike in avian flu cases in January is alarming the agriculture ministry and raising concerns about egg prices remaining high.

Twenty-three cases were reported by Jan. 19, surpassing the 19 cases in January 2023 during the worst avian flu season on record, which ran from October 2022 to April 2023.

Authorities ordered about 4.18 million birds to be culled compared with the approximately 4.63 million in January two years ago.

At an emergency meeting on Jan. 20, the agriculture ministry asked municipal officials from around the country to promptly report outbreaks and disinfect affected poultry houses.

“We are in a crisis situation with infections occurring successively in the same areas,” a senior ministry official said. “We are concerned about the impact on egg prices, depending on how the influenza will spread.”

In the 2022 season, a record 84 cases were reported in 26 prefectures, and about 17.71 million birds were destroyed.

The first case in the current season was confirmed in Hokkaido in October.

The number of early cases this season was second only to the number in the 2022 season, prompting the agriculture ministry to strengthen disinfections and other countermeasures.

By the end of the year, cases remained relatively low at 16 total, with about 2.75 million birds ordered to be culled.

However, infections have occurred almost daily in January. A combined seven cases were reported in Aichi and Chiba prefectures on Jan. 19, breaking a single-day record.

Egg prices often rise toward the end of a year due to high demand but tend to fall as the new year begins.

In the first half of December, the average price of a pack of 10 mixed-size eggs was 268 yen ($1.72), nearly 20 percent higher than in the average year, according to an agriculture ministry survey of 470 supermarkets and other retailers nationwide.

JA Z-Tamago Co.’s standard price of a kilogram of M-size eggs, which serves as an indicator of transaction prices, ranged between 240 yen and 265 yen on Jan. 20, depending on the area. The price was 65-85 yen higher than the year before.

Seiji Nobuoka, a former professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture who is well-versed in poultry farming, said the avian flu’s impact on egg prices will continue unless infections are brought under control.

However, he added that egg prices have been traditionally low and that even current prices are roughly on par with production costs due to increases in feed and other prices.

(This article was written by Eiji Zakoda and Nobufumi Yamada.)

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