June 17, 2004

 

 

Bird Flu Hatches Higher Egg Prices In Japan

 

Due to culling of poultry by producers in the aftermath of the bird-flu scare in Japan, fewer eggs are produced. Thus, egg prices, which usually drop in summer, are staying at high levels this year.

 

An agriculture ministry survey of 470 shops nationwide conducted in the second week of June found that the average retail price of a carton of 10 medium-sized eggs was 169 yen, up 3 yen from the previous week. It was the sixth straight week of increase.

 

Agricultural cooperative officials lay the blame on a shortage of hens. As egg sales went down in winter during the bird-flu scare, many farms cut back on the number of their chickens in spring.

 

The price of eggs is traditionally stable and predictable. For the past few decades, it has fluctuated little over the course of a year.

 

Most years, egg prices rise in winter when demand increases for egg dishes common around the New Year.

Conversely, egg prices tend to fall in the summer months as people avoid eating raw food.

 

This is not the case this summer. When bird flu began to spread in early February, eggs sold for between 140 yen and 150 yen a carton. At nearly 170 yen now, the price has risen by about 15 percent.

 

According to retailers, the sharpest increases have been seen in western Japan, where the bird flu was most virulent.

 

For example, in January, the average wholesale price of a kilogram of medium-sized eggs (roughly 16 or 17 eggs) was 109 yen in Osaka.

 

In February and March, the price was 149 yen and 142 yen, respectively. These three months saw the lowest prices since 1999. The April price was also low at 146 yen.

 

In May, however, the price began to take off, hitting 165 yen. By Wednesday, the price had hit a new peak of 175 yen, in sharp contrast to the average June price over the five-year period from 1999 to 2003 of 144 yen. It is also at its highest level since February 2003, when the price surged to 189 yen.

 

After bird flu struck, the egg-laying chicken population fell by as many as 4 million in western Japan alone. The resulting supply drop-off then pushed up egg prices nationwide.

 

With the shortage expected to continue, ¡°egg prices are unlikely to fall for the time being,¡± warned one agriculture ministry official.