TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The price of duck eggs rose to a record high on Friday (March 10) due to a shortage of chicken eggs and the approach of the Dragon Boat Festival.
Amid a shortage of chicken eggs, Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) on Tuesday (March 7) called on the public to buy duck eggs as an alternative, according to UDN. However, the Council of Agriculture (COA) on Thursday (March 9) announced that the price of duck eggs would also increase on Friday.
The COA said the farm gate price for duck eggs on Thursday was NT$45 per Taiwan catty (600 grams), while the wholesale price ranged between NT$55-NT$60. However, it said both wholesale and farm gate prices would rise by NT$3 on Friday, with the latter climbing to NT$48, a record high.
Chiang Wen-chuan (江文全), deputy head of the COA's Department of Animal Industry, said duck eggs are mainly consumed as processed salted egg yolks. Chiang said that there are two holidays when they are consumed the most: Lunar New Year and Dragon Boat Festival.
As the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, duck eggs are one of the popular fillings for some zongzi, and stocking up will begin at this stage, resulting in an increase in demand. In addition, due to the recent shortage of chicken eggs, some eateries have switched to duck eggs instead.
Chiang said the high price of feed combined with these changes in supply and demand has led to a price increase of NT$3. When asked whether the culling of ducks at farms impacted by bird flu would lessen the supply of ducks this year, Chiang said there are still more than two million ducks at this stage and the supply will not be affected.
Kao Chuan-mo (高傳謨), chairman of an egg sales association, told UDN that due to the shortage of chicken eggs, many consumers have switched to buying duck eggs, thus leading to a shortage of the latter as well. Kao said that as the price of duck eggs increases, the price of processed century eggs and salted duck eggs will increase accordingly.
Kao said egg farmers, egg merchants, and consumers are all affected. The pandemic combined with the avian flu epidemic has cost Taiwan's egg processing factories more than NT$20 million over the past three years, while one has closed down recently, said Kao.
As for when the egg shortage will dissipate, Kao said if the weather improves, supplies will not be as tight as they are now, but to restore normal production levels, more chickens will need to be acquired.