Chickens provide 93 percent of world egg production and eggs are one of the most consumed products of animal source. Poultry production placed second among the most important subsectors in the agriculture industry in the Philippines.

Egg Inventory

A. National

The country’s total egg production in 2021 was registered at 661.39 thousand metric tons. This was higher by 9.2% than the previous year’s production of 605.79 thousand metric tons (Figure 1).

The industry underwent a significant expansion as some of the swine farmers affected by African Swine Fever (ASF) moved to egg production, said Chairman of the Philippine Egg Board Association (PEBA), Gregorio San Diego, reports the Business Mirror, adding that the increase in production was only felt towards the end of 2020. “The increase in supply was already felt toward the end of the year as was reflected in the reduction of egg prices,” added San Diego.

The entry of new players in the local layer industry allowed the country’s egg production to rise to an unprecedented level last year, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

B. Regional

In terms of inventory by region, CALABARZON remained the top egg producer of the during the quarter with 53.97 thousand metric tons or 30.9% of the country’s total egg output. The other top producing regions were Central Luzon which shared 20.0%; Central Visayas, 11.3%; Northern Mindanao, 9.9%; and Western Visayas, 5.5%. (Figure 2).

C. Provincial

At the provincial level, Batangas emerged as the top egg producer in 2021 with 174.25 thousand metric tons. This was followed by Pampanga with 73.75 thousand metric tons and Cebu with 60.50 thousand metric tons. Among other top-producing provinces were Bukidnon, Bulacan, South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Rizal, Tarlac, and Negros Occidental. The combined production of these provinces accounted for 71.6% of the country’s total egg production (Figure 3).

Prices

A. Farm Gate Price

In 2021, the average farmgate price of eggs in commercial farms was quoted at PhP 5.46 per piece. This was lower by -2.9% from the previous year’s average price of PhP 5.62 per piece (Figure 4).

During the reference year, the highest price was noted in February at PhP 5.82 per piece, while the lowest price was recorded in August at PhP 5.20 per piece.

In a survey conducted in different regions in the country, the prevailing farm gate prices for the medium-sized egg as of January 12, 2022 range from P4.65-P5.30 per piece in Luzon, P5.00 per piece in Bacolod, P5.93 per piece in Cebu, P4.50-4.60 per piece in Davao (Figure 5).

B. Retail Price

The annual average retail price of the egg was PhP 7.14 per piece in 2021. This was higher by 1.4 percent than the average price of PhP 7.04 per piece in 2020. In 2021, the highest average retail price of the egg was recorded in April and May at PhP 7.25 per piece, while the lowest was recorded in October and November at PhP 7.04 per piece (Figure 6 and Table 12).

Nutrition

With the continuous increase in prices of poultry farming inputs, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is conducting regular validations and monitoring of supply scenarios, sourcing alternative local feed ingredients. According to the Agriculture Chief, the DA is conducting dialogues with other countries for the possible outsourcing of alternative feed ingredients to lower production costs.

Supply vs Demand

The volume of egg production reached its high record by the end of 2020 and continued to increase in 2021. Local hog industry players affected by ASF have moved to egg production instead during the pandemic, pushing the country’s supply of eggs high over the last few weeks of 2020, said the United Broilers Raisers Association (UBRA) President Bong Inciong. Broiler raisers shifted to layer farming due to an oversupply amid COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and the influx of poultry imports, added Inciong. Even the big players in the industry went into egg production according to UBRA Chairman Gregorio San Diego Jr. By that time, the increase in the country’s egg production was already causing problems for producers, San Diego said. The supply was increasing while the demand for eggs was declining.

In 2022, the economy has started to recover slowly after the lockdown measures have been eased. The DA is working on a series of interventions to quickly address the continued rise in prices of poultry and poultry products in the markets. These include easing restrictions on the movements of poultry products, conducting regular validations and monitoring of supply scenarios, sourcing alternative local feed ingredients, and lifting import bans for poultry products, among others.

Poultry diseases have been a problem as well for producers and the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) has issued special import permits for autogenous vaccines to support disease prevention on other poultry diseases such as the dreaded inclusion body hepatitis (IBH). The said disease is caused by fowl adenovirus believed to be resistant to several disinfectants, heat, and pH changes.

Usually, laying hens start to lay eggs from 18-19 weeks of age and continue laying eggs until 72-78 weeks of age. This year, because of the decrease in population (real data has still not been shared) because of IBH, the egg price has increased, and some farms have decided to perform a moulting to have a second period of laying of the stocked hens.

Bibliography:

• Philippine Statistics Authority. Chicken Situation Report (2021)
• Delta Management Consultancy Services Layer Industry Report (2022)
• Statista Research Department. Livestock and poultry sectors in the Philippines – statistics & facts. Available on: https://www.statista.com/topics/7001/livestock-and-poultry-sectors-in-the-philippines/#topicHeader__wrapper
• Natalie Berkhout (2021). Poultry World. Available on: https://www.poultryworld.net/poultry/philippines-reaches-record-high-egg-output-in-2020/
• Jasper Arcalas Y. (2021). Chicken egg output hits record high in 2020. Available in: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/02/22/chicken-egg-output-hits-record-high-in-2020/
• Miraflor Madeleine B. (2021). PH’s egg output rises, and it’s causing problems for producers. Manila Bulletin.
• DA Communications Group (2022). DA sets strategic interventions to address rising prices of chicken meat, and eggs. Available in: https://www.da.gov.ph/da-sets-strategic-interventions-to-address-rising-prices-of-chicken-meat-eggs/