Laotian egg farms hit by Thai imports
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Competition cut profits; owners seek assistance
The Khamphou chicken farm in Vientiane wants authorities to limit the number of eggs imported from neighbouring countries to save local producers, farm owner Khamphou Pholsena told the Vientiane Times on Friday.
If egg imports from neighbouring countries are limited to a reasonable number and do not swamp local markets, chicken farmers can avoid collapsing, he said.
Prior to December there were a lot of Thai eggs in the markets, so the price of each carton of 30 eggs was very low. One carton of grade-A eggs costs traders 17,000 kip (US$2), putting considerable pressure on local producers.
However, a shortage in the domestic market saw Thai exports to Laos fall dramatically, bringing relief to local farmers.
“Now we can continue our business of chicken farms as the prices we can fetch have recovered to 26,000 kip per carton since December last year, as a lot of Thai eggs are not imported,” Khamphou explained.
If the price of eggs remained as low as it was last year, many chicken farmers would be out of business. Shortages in Thailand are the reason why there are not a lot of Thai eggs in the markets at the moment, and local producers want it to stay that way.
Vientiane Chicken Farm Group says it has over 150 farm suppliers in the capital. In total the farms have 555,000 hens and supply 400,000 eggs to markets in the city every day.
Khamphou has a substantial chicken farm housing 10,000 hens, which on average lay more than 160 cartons of eggs per day. These eggs are sold to local traders in Vientiane.
Khamphou said he would like to increase his number of hens in the future if the price remains at 26,000 kip per carton but he would like more investment certainty.
“We will be unhappy if the price of eggs falls from 26,000 to 17, 000 kip per carton because we cannot get any income from selling eggs,” he said. “There are an ample number of farms to supply the egg markets in Vientiane, and so competition is pretty stiff,” he added.
Vientiane Chicken Farm Group also competes for market share with the CP Lao Company, who are supplying eggs throughout the country.
CP Lao Company is packaging their eggs in attractive clear plastic cartons to make them more appealing to customers, and command a higher price as a result.
This is one reason why some chicken farms are now struggling to sell all their eggs, as their packaging is not as attractive as that of their competitors.
When the eggs are “upgraded” with the packaging, it may attract more buyers throughout the country. But if some farm owners do not take steps to lift their packaging, their market share will continue to drop, as more and more people are looking for eggs that look appealing.
The eggs sold in the cardboard cartons come straight from the farm and are not washed beforehand, so some are covered in chicken dung. Nowadays, people in Vientiane don't want to buy eggs if they notice some of them are covered in muck.
