The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said it would prioritize imports of prepackaged eggs in future programs to avoid the controversies incurred by a special import program this year.
When facing an egg shortage at the start of the year, agriculture officials in the special egg import program purchased about 140 million eggs from abroad, Department of Animal Industry Director-General Chang Ching-wei (張經緯) told the Cabinet.
The import program had achieved the desired result of ensuring a steady supply and inhibiting erratic price hikes, Chang said.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
In the ministry’s report to the Cabinet, Chang estimated that overall benefits derived from the program totaled about NT$6 billion (US$186.85 million) — about 10 times the amount paid by the ministry for the imported eggs.
“This program specifically dealt with the shortage to fill domestic demand for eggs. It had limited conditions for the time frame and country of origin,” Chang said.
As the ministry did not reduce import tariffs, “it would not affect the prices provided by domestic egg producers, protecting their revenue,” he added.
Negotiations resulted in deals with 12 countries, for which egg imports are open through this year for Paraguay, Guatemala, Singapore, Canada and Turkey, and until the end of June next year for Japan, the US, Australia, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, he said.
Chang said that the new measures would see the imported eggs held in reserve released in a timely fashion for processing, and that they would not be sold at retail outlets.
“We are constantly monitoring the situation, and will pick up on the special import program when the egg shortage surpasses 10 percent nationwide,” he added. “In principle, future imports will require washing and packaging in the country of origin, while the eggs must be under cold-chain storage inside its own packaging. Each shipment must be registered with the Food and Drug Administration, which will publish testing results at regular intervals.”
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) also said that imported eggs were not past their expiration date, which is a misconception being circulated on social media.
Chen said the ministry plans to import 330,000 chicken broilers this year, and increase its quota for egg-laying hens to 34 million to meet domestic demand.
The ministry would also provide NT$4.4 billion in additional investment to build new cold-storage chains and upgrade chicken farms to create more animal-friendly living conditions, he added.
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