Bird flu ban on eggs hits hard

Abu Dhabi: There is an acute shortage of eggs in the market, leading to a rise in prices, market officials have said.

There is a 60 to 85 per cent shortage following the ban on Saudi eggs recently due to bird flu, resulting in around 15 to 55 per cent price rise.

The prices of locally produced eggs have risen 10 to 20 per cent and imported egg prices from 40 to 55 per cent, according to market officials. The absence of Indian eggs which were banned four months ago has added to the problem.

Eggs are scarce because some suppliers provide only 15 per cent of the regular supply, said an official of the Emke Group, which owns 47 supermarkets, including Lulu hypermarkets, in the country.

A tray of 30 medium size local eggs, which used to cost Dh12 to Dh13, now costs Dh14 to Dh15. Imported eggs in the same category have risen to Dh16 to Dh17.

The official disclosed that suppliers of a particular brand increased the retail price of medium size eggs from Dh14 to Dh22 per tray.

"We face about a 60 per cent shortage of supply," said a senior official of Union Cooperative Society in Dubai. "We have requested the government to announce an official increase in egg prices to prompt more supplies from distributers," said Ebrahim Al Bahar, assistant general manager.

All the retail outlets said they restrict the customers from buying more than a tray of eggs but some cafeterias and restaurants try to surmount it.

"They send different people to buy one tray each as soon as some stock arrives," said Abdul Nazer Thayal, showroom supervisor at Al Safa Super Market of KM Trading Group in Abu Dhabi, which owns 13 outlets. "We have to keep an eye on such people to serve our regular customers."

Stocks exhausted

A supplier of Saudi eggs said their stocks are almost exhausted and there is no alternative. "We are able to supply just 10 per cent of regular supply and that, too, will stop soon," said Roop Kumar, sales manager of Al Seer Trading Agencies, Distributor of Al Watania Eggs.

Indian and Saudi eggs together constitute 50 per cent of the market, said Dr Hussain Hassanain, associate professor of Poultry Diseases and Technical Secretary of the Emirates Poultry Producers Association.

"Oman eggs constitute just 10 per cent and the rest of the 40 per cent is local production." He attributed the present crisis to a shortage of local production of about 7.5 million per annum.

"The UAE market demands about 1.3 billion eggs per annum, which include re-exports also. But only 5.5 million are produced here per annum. He suggested self-sufficiency in egg and chicken production as a long-term solution to the crisis.