China looks to takeover Western egg processing businesses

China is looking to takeover Western egg processing businesses to help boost its technical knowledge and understanding. That was the message delivered to International Egg Commission delegates by Morten Ernst, IEC ambassador in Asia.

Mr Ernst noted that China was now dominating the Asian market with a 60% share. And that western companies had missed their chance to invest in Chinese companies over the past few decades and now the tables had turned.

China is going west

“Chinese and Asian processors are looking to acquire established egg companies. China is gong west,” he said.

An example of Chinese expansion plans has been the huge recent investment in African agriculture.

Expansion of Asian companies

Other Asian companies, such as Philippines-based Jollibee Foods is expanding right across The Continent and is outselling McDonalds at home.

SPC Food Group a South Korean company, is also expanding westwards, with stores in Europe and the United States.

“The growth is coming through foreign expansion and acquisition,” he added.

US: 10 year low in pricing

Greg Hinton, Vice President at Rose Acre Farms, United States, presented the North America report, reported a 10 year low in pricing and ongoing over-supply problems post-2015 and the US bird flu outbreak.

“We suffered a 30-40% decline for egg products from processors who moved to egg replacements or reduced the amount of egg.”

Market slow to recover

Mr Hinton hinted that market had been slow to recover and the situation had not been helped by the over-supply of layers.

“We were at 318m at the start of the year. This went down to 310.8min July but is due to climb back to 323.4m at the end of the year.”

Henrik Pederson, vice-president of Danish Sanovo Group, said the European processing market remained broadly satisfactory despite some price turbulence.