Egg retail prices to continue rising until 2024

MANILA, Philippines — The spike in the retail prices of eggs is expected to continue until the first semester of 2024 amid the expected high demand this Christmas and the decline in production, according to the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) and Philippine Egg Board (PEB).

In an interview with The STAR, UBRA and PEB chairman Gregorio San Diego attributed the upward trend in the retail prices of eggs to a drop in production after the devastation of recent Typhoons Egay and Goring, adding that the farmgate price of eggs increased between P0.15 and P0.20 per piece.

He said that among those affected by recent typhoons was the province of Ilocos.

“At present the increase in the farmgate of eggs in Ilocos is the highest, with almost one peso increase as the medium-sized egg is now P7.33 (per piece) from P6.55 as many chicken layers died because of the typhoons,” San Diego added.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has said that the damage of southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoons Egay and Falcon to the livestock and poultry has reached P386.45 million while the damage brought by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoons Goring and Hannah to livestock and poultry totaled P10.42 million.

“If the (farmgate price) of eggs reaches P5 (per piece), we will suffer losses as the feed a chicken layer eats is almost P5 already,” he added.

San Diego said that by the second semester of 2024, the supply of eggs is expected to increase as breeders have started to arrive.

“Eggs will flood the market and that’s our worry, we will again suffer losses,” he added.

At the same time, San Diego said that many egg producers decided to slow down in their production amid the threat of bird flu as the DA and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) have yet to approve the vaccine against avian flu.

San Diego added that as early as August 2022, poultry raisers filed a petition for the approval of the bird flu vaccine.

“Our neighboring countries are already implementing vaccination but it is delayed here in our country for unknown reasons,” he said.

He said that smuggled bird flu vaccines proliferate online.

“We want it (approval of the vaccine) to be accelerated as once a chicken tested positive of bird flu, the entire population will be wiped out as the DA will condemn the entire farm but smuggled vaccine can be bought online. We already informed the DA and BAI about this,” San Diego said.

Based on monitoring of the DA, the retail price of medium-sized eggs reached between P6.50 and P8.50 per piece.

On the other hand, San Diego said that the farmgate price of chicken ranged from P112 to P113 but the retail price remains high at P200 per kilo.

“The problem is as we expect an increase in the demand of chicken during Christmas, the imported meat also floods the market,” he added.