Philippine firm gets P100m grant to process eggs for exports - PHILIPPINES - The Netherlands government is extending a grant for the Philippine Egg Board's purchase of a P100 million egg processor that will enable it to freeze, liquefy, pasteurize, or powderize egg for institutional and export markets.

Brenda Dimayuga, Philippine Egg Show chairman, said during the fourth Philippine Egg Show the Dutch government will extend the grant in the form of egg processing equipment as this also involves the Philippine Egg Board's (PEB) joint venture with a Dutch company.

Dimayuga said the equipment will enable egg producers to meet local demands of airlines, hotels and restaurants currently supplied by the United States and bird flu free countries.

"Some institutional buyers just need the egg yolk or the egg white. And this can be available in liquid form. Hotels no longer need to beat the shell," she said in an interview.

Bird flu elsewhere in the region is giving the Philippines a boost in exporting 1.5 million kg of poultry to Japan. The processing facility will also enable the country to export eggs to Japan, for instance.

The expansion is also part of PEB's aim to raise Philippines' annual egg consumption to at least 200 eggs per person from the present low of 92, one of the lowest in Asia considering Japan's 328 per person.

Dimayuga said this target is within acceptable levels from the American Heart Association's daily recommendation of one or two eggs per person, despite common thinking that eggs are high in fat and cholesterol.

Aside from being cheap (P4 per piece or about P60/kg compared to fish at P60/kg, chicken at P85/kg and pork at P140/kg, egg is protein rich and is considered a complete food.

To help the industry, Dimayuga said government should bring down feed cost. Corn feed in Thailand, one of the world's important poultry exporters prior to bird flu, is at P5/kg, much lower than the P7 to P8 per kilo in the Philippines. Lower corn feed has resulted in cheaper Thai eggs, at only P2 per piece compared to the Philippines' P4.

Gregorio A. San Diego Jr., PEB chairman, said that aside from the Dutch government's offer, PEB is studying offers from Belgium, France, US, and Canada for putting up a P70 to P80 million egg processor with a 180,000 eggs per day capacity.

While Netherland's offer is for a 1.5 million euro grant, San Diego said a Belgian offer appears to be attractive since it anchors on well-entrenched export markets.

"They put up a facility in India, but production is short," he said, explaining the eggs will be pasteurized (heated below boiling point to kill bacteria) or processed here and exported.

Dimayuga said the country presently produces 16 million eggs per day (5.84 billion yearly), 80 percent output of the 20 million layer-birds that bear one egg each day. Its bird inventory is up by 33 percent from 15 million in 2002 prior to PEB's campaign for cheap and healthy egg eating. The industry also offers million jobs, she stressed.

Local egg producing areas are Batangas, country's egg basket, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Bulacan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Central Luzon, Tarlac, Laguna, and Quezon.

Source: eFeedLink - 17th February 2005