Chicken, egg prices fall below cost

In Taiwan, chicken and egg prices have fallen below production costs because of increased chicken imports and the extremely hot weather, according to the Department of Animal Industry under the Council of Agriculture (COA).

Officials at the department have urged consumers to buy and eat more local chicken and eggs after the unit retail price for eggs dropped to less than NT$2 (US$0.06), and indigenous chickens to only NT$120 (US$3.68).

The officials said that the prices of chickens eggs rallied sharply in the first half of last year, prompting local chicken raisers to actively boost their output. This, in turn, caused chicken and egg prices to drop, especially in April and May.

At the moment, domestic livestock raisers can supply 18 million chicken eggs per day, exceeding the normal market demand by 5 percent. As a result, the retail price offered by some local suppliers is only NT$19 for per 10 eggs, translating into less than NT$2 for per egg.

Local farmers can also currently supply 2.1 million indigenous chickens per week, again esceeding normal demand by 5 percent. This, coupled with the lingering hot weather, has made sales of indigenous chickens a difficult job.

Editor WorldPoultry