Ukraine's chicken eggs exports may increase by 1.5 times in 2017 – experts

"Despite the fact that some countries in December last year stopped importing chicken eggs from Ukraine due to bird flu outbreaks, deliveries of domestic fresh eggs in shells to foreign markets are expected to increase by more than 1.5 times against last year's results," the report says.

Ukraine exported 71,500 tonnes of eggs in the first ten months of 2017 against 50,700 tonnes year-over-year (y-o-y). The countries of Asia and Africa purchased most of the Ukrainian fresh eggs over the period under review.

Read alsoUkraine, Saudi Arabia sign memo on investment cooperation in agricultureAccording to the experts, the United Arab Emirates has been the major importer of the Ukrainian eggs for several years in a row.

Over five years, the UAE increased egg imports from Ukraine almost 20 times, having bought 20,900 tonnes of the product in 2016. According to the scientists' forecast, egg exports to this country may reach a record high in 2017, as Ukraine has already supplied over 34,000 tonnes of eggs to the UAE since the beginning of 2017. The share of the UAE in the total egg exports was 47.6% in January-October 2017. It was followed by Iraq (18%), Qatar (8%), Liberia (4.9%) and Sierra Leone (4.9%).

According to the experts, Ukraine can resume eggs deliveries to the countries that temporarily imposed restrictions on poultry imports from Ukraine last year due to bird flu outbreaks.

However, world prices of eggs have dropped over the past year, according to the Institute of Agrarian Economics. The average price of fresh eggs shipped abroad in January-October 2017 was US$721 dollars per tonne (about UAH 12-13, or $0.4-0.5, a dozen eggs). Therefore, taking into account the fact that prices in the domestic market exceed world prices, it is more profitable for Ukrainian farmers to sell their products within the country.

Read alsoUkraine seeks to supply eggs, poultry to Malaysia – mediaAs UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine exported agricultural products worth $13.07 billion in the nine months of 2017, which was 24.3% up y-o-y, according to the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry. The major buyers of domestic agrarian products over the period under review were Asian countries (exports worth $5.525 billion), the European Union ($4.177 billion), and Africa ($1.997 billion).