South Korean authorities have opened the border to imports of eggs from Spain after detecting a severe outbreak of the bird flu virus which has resulted in the slaughter of more than 31 million animals, 30% of its production.
Due to virus outbreaks in other EU countries, such as France and Germany, Spain will be the only EU egg supplier to that country, along with Australia and New Zealand. Spanish farms, to date, are free of the virus, which allows them to export. The recent detection of a wild duck with the virus does not affect the production of the farms sector, reason why Spain remains declared free of the disease.
In 2015, also due to the existence of a serious outbreak of bird flu in the United States, which resulted in the slaughter of 16% of the census, Spain multiplied the exports to that country with the consequent increase in prices. The recovery of the census supposed a return to the normality, but with smaller exports. This was due to the demands of the United States authorities, which were outside the rules of the World Trade Organization and were basically aimed at protecting their poultry farmers from abroad.
Open market
Today this market is still open, but in order to export Spanish companies, they must register in the list of authorized firms, following a visit to their North American inspector's facilities that control them, assuming the cost of the work and the travel of the technicians.
Egg production for consumption in Spain amounts to more than one billion dozen, with a value of 924 million euros. Of this volume, approximately 20% is destined for export for direct consumption. In addition there are other items in the form of industrial egg products and eggs for hatching.
The estimates by the Association of Egg Producers, Aseprhu, indicate that the opening of the Korean market will lead to an increase in prices, which in the last year experienced a drop of close to 20%. The average prices at the origin for the bulk product are only 0.65 euros per dozen.
Source: El País.
