Kazakhstan to ban egg imports
Kazakhstan has rolled out plans to impose a 6-month egg import ban to safeguard the domestic industry in the context of turbulence in the US and EU egg markets. The move was made to protect farms from Russia, which is believed to have some of the world’s cheapest eggs.
In the explanatory note to the bill published on the Kazakhstan website of legal acts, authorities claimed that the restrictions are called to support the 34 egg farms operating in the country. In 2024, Kazakhstan produced 4.46 billion eggs, which is 1.2% up compared with 2023. The lawmakers added that Kazakhstan self-sufficiency on eggs is close to 99%.
Last year, Kazakhstan imported 87.4 million eggs.
Tightening screws
The ban indicates that Kazakhstan is increasingly concerned about dumping from Russian egg farms.
In a separate statement, the Kazakhstan Agricultural Ministry revealed that local farmers have been consistently voicing their concerns about the influx of eggs from Russia at dumping prices, particularly during the spring-summer period. This has put them at a significant disadvantage, making it difficult for them to compete in the market.
In response to these complaints, Kazakhstan introduced a ban on egg imports last year by automotive transport lasting from April to September. The restrictions applied to the countries of the Eurasia Economic Union, a trade block of 5 post-Soviet countries, including Russia, whose members share a free trade zone.
This year, the ban will be complete, prohibiting egg imports by all types of transport to the country.
The world’s cheapest eggs
Kazakhstan authorities complained that Russian farmers artificially lower prices to push their Kazakhstan competitors out of business. However, in reality, amid generous state aid allocated last year and the global bird flu epidemic in some regions of the world, eggs in Russia have recently become the cheapest among all G20 countries, Russian state media has recently calculated, citing official data.
The average retail egg price in Russia is Rub 11.5 per unit (US$0.13) against Rub 12 and Rub 12.3 in local currencies in India and Indonesia, respectively. In the US, egg prices are the highest among all G20 countries, calculated at US$0.43 per unit by the Russian media. Similarly high, retail egg prices are seen in Australia where the figure is also close to US$0.43.
The difference shows that the Russian government successfully overcame the consequences of the 2023 egg crisis in the country when the price of eggs skyrocketed by a staggering 61.4%. In response to the crisis, the Russian government embarked on a programme aimed at expanding domestic production, temporarily increasing imports and lower costs for egg farmers through several state aid mechanisms.
Join 31,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the poultry sector, three times a week.
