The price of eggs will continue to rise in the regions, why?

Egg prices will continue to be affected by the crisis due to the problems faced poultry farmersespecially in the southern regions.

Until the end of January, it was reported in the south that eggs cost about 9 soles per kilogram, equivalent to 12 to 15 units.

Meanwhile, in regions like Tacna, merchants they indicate that a tray of eggs (30 pieces) was already about 17 soles, while in Loreto they reached 20 soles.

Previously, in 2021, the Peruvian Poultry Association indicated that a kilogram of eggs was sold for 4 soles 50 cents, but now this figure has almost doubled.

Why are egg prices rising in the south?

poultry farmers they estimate that soybeans have risen in price by 60%. Just to give you an idea: before the blockade, it cost $520 per ton, now you won’t find it cheaper than $900.

Alex Geri, a spokesman for the Association of Poultry Farmers of the South (Avisur), notes that since August 2022, various factors have affected them, such as a lack of supply.

“We don’t have soy soy It has risen by almost 60%, we are trying to replace it with sunflower meal, cotton dough and some additives (…) It is not enough, there is very little soybean meal, and fishmeal is too expensive, ”for sure.

Poultry farmers are trying to survive, but they still note that the cost of their production has risen to 6.50 salt per kilogram, and they cannot raise prices much.

Just a few weeks ago farms They sold a kilo of eggs for between 6.20 and 6.30 shillings. that is, less than it cost them to manufacture, resulting in a loss.

Now their costs go up a bit and they sell a kilo of eggs for up to 7/7, but this product gets more expensive when it goes to wholesalers and then to smaller markets.

In such a situation poultry farmers They had to not only reduce the amount of food, but also slaughter their birds in order to sell them and restore something.

Most poultry farmers lost 30% of their bird population between 2021 and 2022. They had 33 million chickens in 2020, but Avisur warns that “we won’t reach 21 million” this 2023.

Another problem they face is egg smuggling. Just last week, Puno was warned that 600 boxes of eggs of dubious origin had been seized.

This is reminiscent of last October, when it was warned that more than 3 million units eggs smuggling per week in Arequipa, Cusco, Puno and Tacna.

“How is it possible that smuggled eggs get in and soybean meal doesn’t?” asks an Avisur representative.

In the midst of this series of challenges, egg consumption is also declining, with estimated consumption of 243 eggs per person per year in 2021, which had fallen to 150 eggs per person by June 2022.