Local Egg Market Stifled as Imports Sell for Less than Kshs. 5

The Kenyan egg market has been hit hard by an influx of imports that have conjured unhealthy competition and led to farmers thinking about quitting the business altogether.

Poultry farmers are concerned about the increased imports that are making them realize loses considering the high costs of feeding, low prices, and industry standards uncertainty.

The farmers claim that their eggs used to sell at a price of between 280 and 300 shillings a tray but nowadays, a tray sells at a range of 150 to 200 shillings with others forced to sell at 100 shillings.

Residents of Busia town, for instance, say the high production costs are forcing them to look for alternatives.

“High production costs have forced some of us to cross the border to Uganda to buy eggs for consumption and resale,” Mercy Simiyu, and egg trader told People Daily.

Currently, the costs of rearing poultry encompass the high prices of feeds, which alone account for up to 70 percent of the total cost of producing an egg.

According to Ms. Simiyu, the government should intervene to ensure that the cost of feeds is lowered and to subsidize poultry vaccines for the sake of all poultry farmers across the country and the egg market. This, she says, will encourage farmers to produce more.

A 50kg bag of layers of mash feed that goes for 1,500 shillings in Uganda is currently sold at between 2,100 and 2,500 shillings in Kenya. This makes it expensive to feed the chicken especially when the recommended amount of meal a day is 140 grams per hen.

What this means is that a kilo of feed that barely makes it through the week goes for an average of 34 shillings. The translation here is that in Kenya, it costs 15 shillings to produce an egg whereas, in Uganda, it is less than 8 shillings.

Joseph Kang’ethe, an egg broker confirms that they have been buying imported eggs from South Africa for they are more affordable compared to the local produce.

He says that the imported eggs from South Africa enter the Kenyan market at a value of 3 to 5 shillings with paid taxes, transportation, and storage, which is why the business is profitable even at throwaway prices.

Kang’ther has urged the Kenyan farmers to think of ways of producing their own feeds if they want to remain in business. He says that a farmer producing his or her own feeds saves between 30 and 50 percent for every 50kg bag of the feed.

Source: Mediamax