Egg prices rise due to high production costs: broilers group chairman
Egg prices have gone up due to high production costs which is starting to put pressure on small and medium sized growers , United Broiler Raisers Association chairman Gregorio San Diego, Jr. said.
He said price of eggs increased from P6 to P6.50.
“The production cost of eggs are high but it is sold at a low price at the farmgate,” San Diego told dzBB on Sunday.
He said feeds have gone up from P22 a kilo to P30 a kilo, corn went up frm P 14 a kilo to P20 a kilo, soya which is imported rose from P 27 a kilo to P35 a kilo.
''We were told by (suppliers) of commercial feed that prices will go up,'' added San Diego. If that happens, he explained only the well-capitalized growers will survive. ''This will be bad for the smaller ones. The Department of Agriculture has not done anything to help,'' he said.
He added that selling eggs is the “perfect model” for farmers to become “self-sufficient”, since it does not have to compete with imported agricultural products.
Because of this, several big companies in the agriculture sector, including broilers and hog raisers who were affected by African swine fever (ASF) have flocked to the egg farming industry.
“The problem with the Department of Agriculture is that they were not able to control the number of people who shifted to the egg farming industry, that’s why they just keep on growing,” San Diego said.
“Many owners of small farms will have to lessen their stock. Those small and medium (businesses), some of them will have to close down because of profit loss.”
San Diego, who also chairs the Philippine Egg Board Association, said that price increase of chickens made it more difficult to grow more and it resulted into producing both smaller chickens and eggs.
“It’s hard to raise chickens now because of the expensive feed. Sometimes, the owners will have to save up. They don’t get the right size (of chicken),” he said.
He also said that medium-sized eggs are sold at P4.50 to P4.90 per piece, but the capital spent for each egg is at P5.25.
“For every egg, we produce, we lose about one peso. That’s how big it is. And every day, (a chicken) lays eggs. So every day, we lose money,” he said.
The United Broilers Association is an organization established in 1999 that is composed of small and medium poultry producers.
Data from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows that the total number of egg-laying chickens as of January is 62.16 million birds, which is 6 percent higher compared to January last year. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
