March 23, 2023

 

Taiwan to import 60 million eggs in April and May due to supply shortage

Taiwan's Council of Agriculture (COA) announced that Taiwan will import 60 million eggs in April and May due to current egg supply shortage there, Taiwan News reported.

 

Chen Chi-chung, the COA minister, said local egg output and sales information will be announced on a weekly basis, adding that the latest data showed domestic egg production has increased gradually since last week.

 

Chen said more than 31.5 million laying hens in Taiwan are producing eggs daily.

 

Chen also said that the bird flu outbreak has been contained with the help of local governments, allowing egg production to gradually resume.

 

By the end of March, more than five million eggs will be imported, Chen said. 30 million eggs will be imported in April, and another 30 million eggs in May.

 

Taiwan government subsidies will total NTD 180 million (~US$5.9 million; NTD 10 = US$0.33) for the air import of 30 million eggs from Australia for every five million eggs. Chen said that eggs are imported from the US, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

 

He said that egg prices are set by a small number of groups, and that there is a gap between the cost of producing eggs and the actual price. Previously, the daily market demand for eggs was 20 million per day, and about 100,000 cartons were sufficient.

 

Chen said that demand has increased by 20% to 24 million eggs per day. But when asked if production capacity has increased, Chen said that chicken farms are unwelcome in many communities and that many county and city governments have imposed stringent regulations on such facilities.

 

The COA Minister that it is difficult to obtain the necessary permissions to construct a poultry house, so they must instead convert existing livestock farms.

 

He said that in response to concerns about an egg shortage last year, the daily inventory was increased to 30,000 cartons. In response to this year's increased challenges, Chen said that the egg inventory will be increased tenfold to 300,000 cartons.

 

-      Taiwan News