Xinhua News Agency, Taipei, February 25 (Reporter Huang Yang) "How many eggs can you buy? Buy as many as you see, otherwise I will lay eggs myself!" said Ah Sheng, who runs an egg cake shop in Dongmen Market, Taipei. Talk to family members on the phone.
Following the "egg shortage" in Taiwan at the beginning of 2019 and the price of eggs hitting a 20-year high, the price of eggs on the island has soared again recently, and there are even situations where money can't buy them.
Ah Sheng and his family almost went to every store in Taipei to buy eggs.
"If we can't buy it today, if we don't have any eggs tomorrow, we will go out of business." His anxiety is palpable.
The reporter visited many supermarkets and stores in Taipei, and the egg sales were empty.
In response to the "egg shortage" situation, many shops have posted notices restricting the purchase of eggs, and no longer sell tea eggs, marinated eggs, etc.
The reporter inquired about the "China Food Network" bulk grain spot trading platform and found that the price of eggs in Taiwan soared to 52 yuan (NT$, the same below) per catty (1 catty is 600 grams) in August last year.
Since then, egg prices have remained high.
In the selection of Taiwan's 2022 representative characters, the character "up" won the first place.
Among the sounds of "rising" everywhere, the price of eggs most affects the feelings of the people.
In recent years, Taiwan has been in a vicious cycle of "egg shortage" and price increases.
Ah Sheng introduced that starting from 2019, there will be a "shortage of eggs" every year after the Spring Festival in Taiwan, and the price of eggs will rise accordingly. "The cost has gone up, but I dare not raise the price, fearing that the number of customers will decrease."
In order to withstand the pressure, Asheng's paving had to sell coffee powder and potato chips at the same time.
A portal website in the island recently launched a poll on the issue of "lack of eggs". More than 80% of the people who participated in the poll chose "lack of eggs, it is more difficult to buy than before", and some netizens commented "I can't buy them for several days" and "short of water". , lack of electricity, lack of eggs... ".
Among the netizens who chose "not lacking", many people also commented that "you can buy it, but it is more expensive".
Taiwan's agricultural authorities recently admitted that there is indeed a "shortage of eggs". According to estimates, the total daily demand on the island is about 120,000 boxes (200 eggs per box), and the daily supply is about 113,000 boxes.
The Taiwan Agricultural Economics Corporation stated that the actual daily supply is far less than the quantity announced by the Taiwan Agricultural Department, with a daily shortage of 4.5 million.
Faced with this wave of "egg shortage", the person in charge of Taiwan's administrative agency responded that the public "don't trust cognitive warfare"; the shelves of administrative agency officials were full of eggs when they came, and the shelves were empty after they left. They were criticized as "inspection performances" .
Taiwanese current affairs commentator Lai Yueqian said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that the DPP authorities are still talking about "cognitive warfare" in the face of the "egg shortage", which fully shows that they only care about political self-interest and are indifferent to people's livelihood.
This is the root cause of the "egg shortage" problem that has lasted for several years but has intensified.
Taiwan's agricultural department will set up a special agency to deal with the "egg shortage" problem in 2020.
In the past three years, the "egg shortage" has not been resolved, and the reasons given by the authorities are still "irresistible factors" such as cold snap and bird flu.
Lai Yueqian said that the problem of "lack of eggs" is essentially "lack of chickens".
In 2019, out of political considerations, the DPP authorities forcibly suppressed the price of eggs, causing a large number of laying hen farmers to abandon their breeding, the amount of breeding was greatly reduced, the supply capacity of eggs was reduced, and the rise in egg prices became a persistent problem.
A large food factory on the island revealed that Taiwan’s agricultural department reached a consensus with egg merchants and public associations. The land price of eggs per catty rose from 40.5 yuan to 42.5 yuan, and the wholesale price rose from 50 yuan to 52 yuan, which is far lower than that of layer farmers. It is expected that too thin profits will affect the willingness of laying hen farmers to produce.
Taiwan's administrative agency recently announced that it will take measures such as strengthening horizontal scheduling, extending the business tax reduction and exemption period for imported raw materials such as corn, and increasing imported eggs to processors.
Lin Yuhong, an agricultural expert in Taiwan, believes that these measures may be a temporary "pain reliever", but they cannot solve long-term problems.
Objective factors such as bird flu, extreme weather changes, and rising feed prices have affected the industry, but the "egg shortage" has been encountered year after year. The root cause is that the DPP authorities have done nothing in the modern transformation of chicken farms.
According to the "2021 Taiwan Poultry Statistical Handbook", among the more than 1,600 laying hen farms in Taiwan, 91.7% are traditionally open, and only 75 and 59 are modern water curtain and high bed poultry houses respectively.
When traditional open-air chicken farms encounter extreme weather and the threat of infectious diseases, the egg production rate will naturally be affected, which will lead to fluctuations in output and soaring egg prices.
"Taiwan's agriculture will be very fragile if it is not transformed and upgraded in a timely manner." Lin Yuhong said that if the DPP authorities really care about people's livelihood and farmers, they should do something in upgrading poultry houses and modernizing agriculture.