The Department of Agriculture (DA) has asked other agencies to convince people to consume more eggs to address the oversupply in local production that has caused farm-gate prices to go down to as low as P4 each.
In a report last February, the United Broiler Raiser’s Association (UBRA) blamed the low retail price of eggs on low demand, causing retailers to incur losses. Based on the price monitoring of the DA in markets in Metro Manila, the cost of a medium-sized egg ranges from P6.80 to P8.50 per piece.
The current market price was lower compared to the prices monitored by UBRA last October, when the farm gate price of eggs reached P7.33 after typhoons Egay and Goring reduced egg production.
According to Gregorio San Diego, chair of the Philippine Egg Board Association (Peba), medium-sized eggs are now priced at P5 to P6 each, while small eggs go for P4 to P5 each, depending on transport costs.
He said the oversupply was partly due to low consumption among Filipinos. Other businesses that use eggs such as the baking industry are some of the groups that can also help balance the number of eggs in the market.
In the report from the DA last February, De Mesa confirmed that the country was facing an oversupply of eggs, purportedly due to the cool weather in recent weeks, which he said was ideal for the egg-layer industry. But with the change in weather, from cold to hot, we can expect that the production eggs will decrease.
But while the egg industry was facing an apparent oversupply, the DA is focusing its efforts in the next three years on increasing production in the rice, vegetable, meat, and fish industries to address the country’s food security issues, he said.
With additional report: www.inquirer.net, Melvin Gascon
