Import Of Eggs Allowed To Tide Over Shortage

BRUNEI - To cope with the egg shortage, the Agriculture Department under the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources is taking steps to allow the import of eggs from the neighbouring country.
calendar icon 11 May 2007
clock icon 3 minute read

Permits have been issued to local companies to import 900,000 eggs. So far, 300,000 eggs have arrived and more consignments are expected to arrive in the coming days.

The department hopes that with the import of eggs, the supply in the local market will stabilise again.

The recent worrying trend of the shortage of eggs and the resultant hike in prices of eggs and meat in the local market has prompted the Agriculture Department to issue a statement.

The department said it was aware of the shortage of eggs in the local market for over a week and attributed the shortage to technical problems, especially relating to the management faced by local egg producers at the moment.

The problem might continue to persist for another one or two weeks before normalcy returns, the department added. The department urged the public not to panic and said the government will continuously take suitable steps to overcome problems such as these.

Meanwhile, in connection with the rise in prices of eggs and chicken meat in the market, the department has found out that the rise in prices has been due to the hike in prices of chicken feed by as much as 23 per cent since 2006.

The rise in chicken feed prices has directly affected the price of eggs and meat because chicken feed constitutes 60 to 70 per cent of the production cost.

The Agriculture Department also said that the rise in chicken feed prices has not only been felt in Brunei but also in neighbouring countries. Among the reasons given for the rise in poultry feed prices is a rise in demand for corn, which is the main ingredient in the production of poultry feed.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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