TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Taipei City Egg Merchants Association (台北市蛋商業同業公會) announced a price cut of NT$3 per catty for eggs on Tuesday (Oct. 15), reducing the farm price from NT$24.5 to NT$21.5. Lin Tien-lai (林天來), the association's chairman, explained that the decision resulted from a surplus in egg production, which led to storage issues.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA, 農業部) reported a record high of 37.04 million laying hens, producing 125,000 boxes of eggs. This surge has led the "Taiwan Egg Chicken Production and Marketing Guidance Committee" (台灣蛋雞事業產銷督導委員會) to issue its first-ever "severe surplus" warning.
Huang Jung-chen (黃榮珍), a leader at the Poultry Association Republic of China (中華民國養雞協會), attributed the surplus to excessive construction of chicken coops. Moreover, Li I-chien (李宜謙), an agriculture ministry official, noted that more than 2.2 million low-yield hens were culled in July, exceeding the original target of 1.8 million.
The MOA's statistics revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, egg prices fell to NT$22-23 per catty. The current reduction to NT$21.5 marks a new low, even below pandemic-era prices.
