Egg shortage ends as almost one million eggs arrive

Barbados is no longer facing an egg shortage, says the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers’ Association (BEPPA).

President Stephen Layne told Barbados TODAY on Monday that 972 000 eggs arrived last week and the shelves of retailers across the island have since been restocked.

“The supermarkets have adequate amounts of eggs and there is no need for people to revert to panic buying that we were experiencing recently, where people were buying more eggs than they needed; they were hoarding them,” he said, noting that a shipment of three containers, each containing 324 000 eggs, reached the Bridgetown Port either last Thursday evening or Friday morning following a two-week delay, and the eggs were distributed on Friday to various businesses.

Although he could not provide details as to the cost of the imports, Layne said this shipment would be enough for the
local market until year-end. An additional shipment was readily available if needed, he added.  

“We do not want to bring in too much at one time to disadvantage our small farmers. We want the imports to complement what the local farmers are producing,” he said. 

“It is not that we were completely out of eggs because we still have one producer that is doing over 35 000 eggs per day, even though they are not at full capacity, while small farmers collectively are producing about 20 000 or more a day. So those eggs that came in are only to support what the locals are producing. If the predictions of a bumper tourist season materialise, then we would have adequate amounts of eggs. Generally, on a day-to-day basis, Bajans don’t eat a lot of eggs; consumption only increases around the Christmas period when they have to bake and make delights for their family.”

Last week, Layne confirmed that egg supplies were low but assured Barbadians in October that there were no shortages of poultry or eggs, even as a main producer’s flock was compromised. 

(SZB)