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Bird flu sees egg prices soar, supplies hit for 1 year
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MOON Hong-nam, a pastry chef in Seoul, needs at least 15,000 eggs a day to bake cakes, but after South Korea’s worst outbreak of bird flu and a surge in the prices of eggs, he is considering changing his menu.
“We can ride it out through Christmas with what (supplies) we have secured,” said Moon, who works at the LeSCARGOT bakery in the South Korean capital. “But if (bird flu) continues until January, we will have to raise prices inevitably and make bakery items that do not need eggs.”
About 20 million birds, nearly a quarter of South Korea’s poultry stock, have been culled to control the outbreak. Most of the birds culled are egg-laying hens.
The flu has spread in other parts of Asia as well, particularly in Japan. Hong Kong confirmed its first case this week.
In South Korea, the average retail price for 30 eggs has risen nearly 25 percent to 6,781 won (US$5.70) since the outbreak began on November 18 — the highest in more than three years, according to state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.
The institution says it is the highest month-on-month increase in egg prices in nearly a decade.
The price hike is putting a dent in the wallets of Koreans, who usually eat more eggs in the winter, including in bread and kimbap, a Korean sushi roll. Some stores are rationing the number of eggs customers can buy.
Analysts said the egg shortage is expected to last at least one year as it could take up to two years for the industry to raise baby chickens and rebuild flocks.
“Economic losses caused by (avian influenza) is estimated to cost up to 1.4 trillion won if 30 percent of South Korea’s poultry population gets infected,” said Chung Min, an analyst at Hyundai Research Institute.
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