www.WATTpoultry.com APRIL 2008 volum e 113 number 4
Shell Egg Exports Hit Record Value in 2007
1
Industry News
4
Just 13 States Increased Layer Numbers in 2007 6
Despite High Prices, Egg Sales Strong
It’s a Retrofitting, Reconfiguring Kind of Year
8
10
Kreider Farms Wins
12
Calendar
16
Marketplace
18
Shell Egg Exports Hit Record Value in 2007
TOTAL U.S. EGG EXPORTS, WORLDWIDE (Million dozen)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Source: FAS
Table Egg
Egg Product (equivalent)
Shell egg export volume increased 42 percent in 2007.
By Dr. Simon M. Shane and Edward Clark
volume and 61 percent less on value of
$1.58 million.
The total value of shell egg exports
in 2007 was an all-time record
$63.46 million. And it may be a
record that stands a while. For both
shell egg and egg products, the total
value reached $137.68 million, a 30.8
percent increase over 2006, and second
only to 1996.
Don’t look for 2008 to set any
records, however. “USDA looks for a 5
percent decrease and I agree,” says Renan Zhuang, staff economist with the
USA Poultry and Egg Export Council
(USAPEEC). For January, exports of
table eggs were 1.6 million dozen or
76 percent less than January 2007 on
Hong Kong Decreases Imports
“The January decrease is mainly due
to a significant decline of nearly 2 million dozen or 76 percent in exports to
Hong Kong, the single most important
market for U.S. table eggs,” Zhuang
says. In addition, exports to other important importing countries such as
Israel and Mexico declined by 77 percent and 90 percent, year over year,
respectively. Exports to Canada, meanwhile, were up 340 percent, or 254,548
dozen. Zhuang gives two key reasons
for a decline in table egg export value
this year: the egg hatch is increasing,
and U.S. consumption is increasing
slightly.
On egg products, “there may be some
recovery in volume this year,” Zhuang
says. Volume in 2007 was down 1,774
tons or 5. 3 percent from 2006. The top
three importing countries for U.S. egg
products in 2007 were Japan, Canada,
and Mexico. Imports from those countries represented 58 percent of all U.S.
egg product export volume in 2007.
While egg product exports were down
11 percent on volume year-over-year,
the value of egg product exports was
up by 9 percent, thanks to increased
export prices. On value, which Zhuang
thinks is a better measure for egg products because six products are aggregated together. Exports in 2007 reached
