Many egg and poultry production companies have asked for support to avoid losses and possible closures because of a significant decline in the prices of eggs despite the enormous costs of feed and the state’s ban on the export of eggs.
According to the country’s officials, “Kuwait produces almost two million eggs every day. There is a 30% oversupply of eggs. The companies, therefore, sell one carton of 360 eggs at a price of KD 8, but the price of one carton set by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is KD 12.6.
Tawfiq Al-Saleh, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Mubarakiya Poultry Company, said, “The increase in the price of feed and the state’s ban on poultry firms from exporting their products of chicken and eggs are two major factors in the tendency of several companies to shut, as they incurred serious losses during the last stage”.
He further disclosed that “Two local companies have already shut down due to their inability to take losses and the state’s unawareness of our demands to fund fodder and open the door for export, particularly since we have a surplus covering the local market”.
Al-Saleh said that imported fodder rates rose from $ 270 to $ 870 per ton, further adding, “How do firms make profit amidst this increase and the stability of the rate of one kilogram of live chicken at only 850 fils in Kuwait?”
He further warned that the state’s negligence of this essential sector would affect the country’s food security negatively, “mainly as we are going through a volatile regional problem that makes nations curious in local production”.
He called on for help regarding the local production of eggs.
Al-Saleh said, “During the bird flu situation, the state supported importing eggs at a rate of KD 1 per box. An increase in the feed prices accompanied the retrieval of normality in the local production of eggs. So why did the state not sustain local production, as it supported the import of eggs during that time? We do not want any double standards”.
Additionally, Hamid Al-Wuhaib, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Wuhaib Poultry Company Hamid said Kuwait has an oversupply of egg production equal to 30%, adding that selling them at a significantly low price caused high losses to the poultry firms, not to highlight that the high costs of fees that worsened the crisis.
He also explained, “The price of imported soy increased from $ 400 to $ 880 per ton, as there is a scarcity of it. The Mills Company increased the price of corn from KD 65 to KD 123 per ton and boosted feed from KD 490 to KD 710 per ton. It ceased selling barley fully and assigned it to sheep. These prices led towards the shut down of two egg production companies. Two others are on their way to closure. This may create an egg crisis in the coming days unless the government interferes and increases the price of eggs, which means the feed must be subsidized so that the companies are steady and continue to produce eggs”.
Al-Wuhaib announced that Saudi Arabia had restricted the import of eggs completely to sustain the local production of eggs until the cost of a carton of eggs there reached the equivalent of KD 20 in Saudi currency, but in Kuwait, it is given at a price of only KD 8, further adding that, “No one buys it and the state denies its export, which causes giant losses”.
He added that eggs are an essential commodity and are used to make many food items and sweets, and healthy nutritional meals for children.