WorldPoultry: Kazakhstan reports drop in egg production

Production of eggs in Kazakhstan dropped from 3,438.3 million to 3,377 million pieces, in 2012 compared to 2011, according to data published by the Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan.

Government experts report that the peak of egg production in 2012 was registered in June, when the country produced about 375.4 million eggs. This is almost 1.5 times higher than in November when the poultry farms of Kazakhstan produced only 270.5 millions eggs.

Only two regions in the country saw a rise in the number of eggs produced. These were Kostanay and Karaganda regions. In November they produced about 41.4 and 41.5 million eggs, respectively. According to experts the drop in egg production could be explained by the serious problems of the poultry industry in the country.

The president of Poultry Farmers Union of Kazakhstan, Ruslan Sharipov, said that Kazakhstan lacks not only the equipment for poultry farms and feed supplements, but also suffers from the fact that breeding birds in Kazakhstan are imported.

"Every year, the Kazakh poultry industry spends more than US$10 million on vaccines and other needs. We can not compete with Russia and Belarus, because the cost of the production process here is very high," said Sharipov.

Besides with the entry into the WTO, he said, the price for poultry in the market in Kazakhstan will decrease and eggs would cost just as in Europe. Also, Sharipov said that now the union is searching for the ways to reduce the cost of the production process while the producers are trying to renew the equipment base. "We expect that in three years we will be able to compete even with the Russian manufacturers," he concluded.