Weekly Report - 23 August 2012 (WR-12-33)

MEXICO| Forced to lift egg import restrictions. On 22 August the Mexican government announced that it was lifting all import duties on eggs after prices increased by 100% in the last two months. Mexico has been dealing with an outbreak of avian flu which has forced it to sacrifice some 10.9m birds and has severely affected the supply of eggs in the country causing prices to sky rocket. Initially the Mexican government reacted to the sharp rise in the price of eggs by increasing the import quota that Mexico has in place in order to protect its domestic producers. While this eased some of the upwards pressure on egg prices, after a couple of weeks, egg price inflation has picked up again forcing the government once again into action. In a press conference, Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari said that the latest measure aims to “stabilise the market, complement the current supply, reduce the price and guarantee the availability of the product to consumers”. Ferrari said that initially the “disproportionate” increase in the price of eggs was a result of the outbreak, but that a subsequent increase which took the average price from MS$13.45 (US$1.02) per kilo to MS$27.80 (US$2.11) per kilo owed to “speculative movement in producers’ prices”. Ferrari said that as well as lifting import duties, the government has also been in talks with the producers and retailers to “combat and eradicate abusive commercial practices”. He revealed that since 4 July, the government has launched investigations into 1,299 shops to check that chicken and eggs were not being sold above market prices. According to Ferrari, imports of eggs from the US had already begun, with some 400 tonnes initially destined for industrial consumers such as those in the bakery sector. He added that additional imports were expected as Mexico’s national animal health service had already granted permission for egg imports from Colombia, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Russia.

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