MLBA8: April / May 2009
Smart and not-so-smart quick-fix ideas to Thailand's egg crisis
Even as the seminar was being held, Thailand's chicken egg industry was hemorrhaging. Farmers had to voluntarily cut production by 10-15 percent to ease the huge oversupply burden, running to about 2-3 million more than the daily consumption of 25-26 million eggs.
Expectedly, prices have been a disaster. During the first two months of the year, the average price of egg in the country was THB1.90 while cost of production was about THB2.10. Farmers have been simply accumulating losses in the past two years, according to Manoch Chootabtim, president of the 400-member Layer Farmers Association.
Compounding the whole situation has been the rising cost of feeds. Under pressure from feed millers, the government allowed last year a 10-20 percent increase in the price of commercial feeds, under state control since 2004. The price hike couldn't have come at a worst time. The price of egg was in a freefall - from around THB2.40 in May to THB2.10 in July last year and to THB1.90 since December.
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