TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As Taiwan continues to grapple with a shortage of eggs, the Council of Agriculture (COA) on Wednesday (March 22) announced the country will import 60 million eggs in April and May to make up for the shortfall.
At a press conference outside the Legislative Yuan, COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said domestic egg production and sales information would be announced every Wednesday, reported UDN. Chen said that based on the latest data, domestic egg production gradually increased over last week.
More than 31.5 million laying hens are now producing eggs every day and numbers are continuing to increase. Chen said weather conditions in central and southern Taiwan are "very good," the southerly wind is blowing, and the temperatures have remained at a "very good level."
Chen emphasized that with the assistance of local governments, the bird flu outbreak has been brought under control, enabling egg production to gradually recover.
According to Chen, by the end of March, more than five million eggs will be imported. He said 30 million eggs would be imported in April and 30 million in May.
For every five million eggs imported by air from Australia, the government subsidy is NT$30 million (US$984,000), so importing 30 million eggs could require NT$180 million in subsidies. When asked to comment on the potential for increased subsidies, Chen said they would not be as much because eggs are now being imported from eight countries, including the U.S., Australia, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia and some are shipped by sea.
Chen said egg prices are determined by a small number of groups and there is a gap between the cost to produce eggs and the actual price. In the past, the daily market demand for eggs was 20 million per day and about 100,000 cartons were enough.
He said demand is now 24 million eggs per day, an increase of 20%. But as to whether production capacity has increased, Chen said chicken farms are unwelcome in many communities and many county and city governments have imposed strict regulations on such facilities.
Ched said that it is difficult to get the necessary permissions to build a poultry house and therefore they have to convert existing livestock farms instead.
The COA head said that in response to concerns over a possible egg shortage last year, the daily inventory was adjusted to 30,000 cartons. In response to the greater challenges this year, Chen said the egg inventory will be increased tenfold to 300,000 cartons.