The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 16th that it will introduce foreign broiler eggs (eggs for hatching chicks) to stabilize the supply of chicken after 900,000 chickens died en masse due to heavy rains last month. There is a precedent for importing eggs from laying hens in 2017, when highly pathogenic avian influenza ( AI ) was prevalent, but this is the first time that broiler eggs have been imported with a budget. Criticism came from the poultry industry, saying, “The government is implementing a ‘show-off policy’ that attempts to stabilize supply and demand by releasing insignificant amounts of imports.”
Chicken 1-year-old 5670 won → 6352 won
chicken egg import, chicken supply shortened by 5 months
On the 17th, 5 million eggs were imported from the Netherlands through Harim and Dongwoo Farm to Table, led by the government. The government’s plan is to solve the supply shortage by supplying 4 million chicks hatched (normally 82% hatching rate) to farmhouses and raising them as domestic chickens. Considering the load/quarantine period (21 days) and breeding period (32 days), broilers hatched from imported eggs are expected to be supplied to the market from October.
An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs expected that “this import of eggs will shorten the supply period of chicken meat on the market by about 5 months.”
The rise in chicken prices was largely attributable to a decrease in supply as producers generally reduced their breeding scale in line with the increase in production costs, such as feed prices. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has made efforts to encourage additional stocking of broiler chickens, expand stocking of chickens, and add tariffs, but it is judged that the supply shortage continues. The number of broiler breeders was 7.86 million last month, about 90,000 fewer than the average year (7.95 million).
In addition, mortality due to flood damage and egg laying rates fell스포츠토토, and the supply of broiler chickens last month was 67.28 million, down 6.2% from last year (71.74 million). As a result, the wholesale price of chicken in July was 4,098 won per kg, up 9.3% from a year ago (3,750 won), and the consumer price rose 12.0% from 5,670 won to 6,352 won in the same month last year. Although it has fallen slightly this month, according to the livestock distribution information of the Livestock Products Quality Evaluation Institute, the consumer price of chicken as of the 15th was 6123 won per kg, 8.1% higher than the previous year (5664 won) and 15.2% higher than the average year (5315 won).
“No direct support for farm households, such as feed costs, and
a waste of budget on transportation costs for imported eggs.”
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that it would subsidize some of the difference between the domestic chick price and the production cost of chicks hatched after importing eggs, but the hatching breeder farmers showed an unsatisfied response.
The price of imported eggs is about 860 won, and a budget of 4.3 billion won is required for this introduction. Considering the cost of hatching, chicks are supplied to farmers for 1,100 won, which is about 300 won more expensive than the domestic chick price (around 800 won). The government has secured a budget of 1.935 billion won to support the difference in this regard.
An official from the Korea Poultry Association said, “We need to lower production costs or increase egg production by supporting feed price increases, which account for 60% of production costs, but we are wasting our budget due to transportation costs for the introduction of imported eggs.” According to the association, the price of chicken feed in June was 653 won per kg, up more than 20% from February last year when Russia invaded Ukraine, and nearly 30% higher than the average year (469 won).
Kim Jeong-wook, director general of livestock policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, “We will make efforts to stabilize chicken prices in various ways, such as additional imports of egg eggs, expansion of quota tariffs, and financial support for affiliated businesses, while closely monitoring the chicken supply and demand situation, which is closely related to people’s lives.”