Distributors scrambling over one too many eggs in Singapore.
egg distributors here are scrambling to figure out ways to deal with an oversupply prompted by panic buying in March and early april.
Ma Chin Chew, chief executive of local egg farm n & n agriculture, said it imported more eggs during the circuit breaker period, which began on april 7, when demand spiked.
The company is one of three henshell egg farms which accounted for 26% of total consumption here last year.
“In March and april, when customers were grabbing eggs, supermarkets kept asking for more eggs, and distributors imported more.
“We thought this trend would continue in May, but when the circuit breaker was extended, it was difficult to predict that the market would change,” said Ma.
The company also had 500,000 egg-hatching hens on its 13ha farm in Lim Chu Kang. But when sales plunged 50% from the second week of May, it was forced to sell onesixth of its hens to the slaughterhouse. They were laying about 80,000 eggs a day.
Kim Hock eggs Merchant had to discard 250,000 imported eggs last month when customers and supermarkets complained that the eggs had gone bad.
The company’s manager, Bernard ong, said pre-circuit breaker, it sold each batch of eggs within two days of receiving them.
But when sales dropped last month, the supply, which came from two countries in south-east asia, took two to three weeks to move.
although they were stored in chillers, they still went bad.
“on the outside, the eggs looked nice, but when customers cracked open the eggs, some of them were black.
“so, I can’t say for sure what caused the eggs to spoil. The eggs could have gone bad when it was shipped, or it could have gone bad when it was stored here,” said ong.
The only option was to discard the eggs.
ong said each tray of 30 eggs now costs around s$4 (RM12.25), down from around s$5 (RM15.30) previously.
Farmers and distributors have also been cutting supply. singapore imports eggs from accredited farms in countries such as australia, Malaysia and new Zealand.
since the end of May, n & n agriculture had to cuts its egg imports from Malaysia by 30%, from 10 million eggs to seven million a month.
green-Tech egg Industries has also slashed its import of eggs by 30%.
In part, this is because its reserve of eggs, which includes liquid pasteurised eggs and frozen eggs, has doubled compared with last year, said managing director ng Kong guan.
The suppliers and merchants are unclear how their business will be impacted as singapore entered phase two of its exit from the circuit breaker period on Friday, when food and beverage outlets can reopen its doors.
“It is too early to tell how the situation will change,” said Koh Chern Teng, farm manager of seng Choon Farm.
some are optimistic that the situation will stabilise as the economy further reopens.
“now we will try to sell away the surplus eggs, and hopefully the market will slowly stabilise,” said ng.