From Egg Shortage to Oversupply: What Problems Does Taiwan's Egg Glut Reveal?

Taiwan is facing a massive egg glut, with over 1 million eggs in excess supply each day. Authorities have suggested measures like ‘an egg a day for every student’ to boost consumption. The situation reveals underlying issues in Taiwan’s agricultural policies and market regulation.

Oct 27, 2024 egg surplus, agricultural policy, school nutrition programs, supply and demand, economic impact

Taiwan’s egg market has gone from one extreme to the other in a short span of time. Just last year, the island experienced a severe egg shortage due to avian influenza outbreaks, causing egg prices to skyrocket. In response, Taiwan’s agriculture authorities took drastic measures - they not only significantly increased imports of breeding chickens, but also launched a special program to import over 150 million eggs.

Fastforward to 2024, and Taiwan now finds itself with a massive oversupply of eggs. According to recent reports, the island produces over 1 million surplus eggs each day. Farm-gate prices have plummeted to around NT$21.5 (US$0.68) per 600g, while wholesale prices are around NT$31 (US$0.98). Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture still has over 11 million imported eggs in stock.

Facing this glut, Taiwan’s Poultry Association has proposed that schools implement a “daily egg for every student” program to drive up consumption and prices, similar to previous initiatives to promote milk and Spanish mackerel consumption. However, this has drawn criticism as an attempt to pass the burden onto students.

This wild swing from shortage to oversupply reveals several deep-rooted issues:

Lack of effective supply-demand forecasting and planning. Authorities failed to accurately project the recovery of domestic egg production capacity post-outbreak and align imports accordingly.
Kneejerk reactions rather than measured, scientific policymaking. The drastic surge in breeding hen imports and egg imports was an overreaction that ignored market equilibrium.
Weak market regulation mechanisms to match supply with demand and maintain price stability. Policymakers seem to rely more on ad-hoc consumption campaigns rather than systematic levers.
Shifting the burden of inventory correction downstream rather than sharing it equitably across the value chain. Forcing students to mop up excess inventory shields producers from the consequences of the glut.
Vulnerability of Taiwan’s egg supply to external shocks due to limited geographic sourcing beyond the island. Diversifying sources can help buffer such impacts.

In summary, while the proximate cause of Taiwan’s egg glut was the avian flu crisis, the disproportionate policy response has exposed the fragility and irrationality in its egg market regulation. Authorities will need to learn from this episode to modernize policy tools, improve data-driven decisionmaking, design shock-resistant supply chains, and create fair risk-sharing mechanisms. Only then can Taiwan navigate future “black swan” events with more resilience.