New regulations to curb excess egg imports

The government has proposed a raft of measures to protect the local poultry industry from an oversupply in an already flooded market.

The new regulations include listing eggs and poultry products as sensitive products, and importers to get approval from the Agriculture CS before embarking on the importation of any poultry products.

China and Uganda are the top markets that sell eggs to Kenya, despite the country having a surplus of 400 million eggs annually.

Uganda has this year exported a total of 5,477, 632 million eggs while China has exported 127,206 eggs into Kenya. This translates to about 182, 588 trays from Uganda and 4,240 trays eggs from China. In total, about 5.7 million eggs equivalent to 187,776 trays have been imported this year.

This, as poultry farmers in the country continues to decry an influx of eggs in the local market that has led to a slump in prices to Sh150 per tray down from Sh280 to Sh270 in June last year.

Agriculture CAS Andrew Tuimur told the National Assembly Agriculture Committee yesterday to regulate the importation of eggs with a view to protect local poultry farmers. The ministry early this month issued a ban on egg imports.

“Any importers of poultry and poultry products are now required to not only obtain clearance from the Directorate of veterinary services, but also from the Agriculture CS,” he said.

The CAS added that in order to cap importation from outside the EAC community, the ministry has proposed to have poultry and poultry products under the list of sensitive products under the East African Community Management Act of 2014.

Tuimur said Kenya produces 1.6 billion eggs while the annual consumption is 1.2 billion. This means there is a surplus of 400 million eggs.

The National Assembly Agriculture Committee chair Adan Ali however questioned why there was an influx of imported eggs in the country yet the country has a surplus that can be exported to other countries.

According to documents tabled before the committee, in 2017 alone, 37, 336 ( 1, 245 trays) of eggs were imported mainly from China.

Tuimur noted the importation of eggs increased in 2018 by nearly five million eggs to a total of 5, 633,279 eggs.

In Uganda, four companies exported eggs with one having a total of 2, 941, 176 million eggs while another exported 1.9 million eggs. Other companies from Uganda exported 456,000 and 90,000 eggs respectively.