Reduce unreasonable egg price increases, DA told

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered the Agriculture department to look into the reason and eventually reduce the unreasonable egg price increases.

The order was given by Marcos to Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban  during a cabinet meeting as the government intends to implement interventions aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and ensuring the availability of nutritious food at reasonable prices.

The chief executive has sought an explanation for recent increases in egg prices, pointing to a growing disparity between farm gate and retail prices that benefits primarily traders.

“We determined that the increase in the price of eggs is not commensurate to the increase in production cost,” said Marcos.

“So we will have to have a look to see how to control that because we cannot explain almost one-half of the profit margin that we are seeing. We cannot attribute it to cost.”

Per the agriculture department’s price watch as of Jan. 13, medium-sized eggs cost P9 each, up from P6.90 in December 2022.

Given farm gate prices, the DA believes eggs should only cost P7 to P7.50 per piece. According to reports, eggs can be purchased for as much as P9.60 per piece.

To address the situation, the DA has earlier reconvened the Price and Volume Watch Committee and Advisory Groups for Livestock and Poultry to closely watch the prices of eggs across the country.

In an earlier interview, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista stated that the agency is removing “certain layers of traders” in order to reduce chicken egg prices.

“We are coordinating with [Philippine] Egg Board also to see the supply situation, and if there are bottlenecks. Right now, what we are doing also is to eliminate certain layers of traders because that will also help bring down the price,” she said.

“Hopefully, mas maganda ang production (the production is better) also of the eggs. There are some challenges that our egg producers are faced with that is now being addressed by our Bureau of Animal Industry.”