Seoul - In
a packed stall in one of Seoul’s traditional eateries, patrons feast on
egg-rich Korean pancakes washed down with beer. Despite the booming business,
the owner of the restaurant, Kim Kang-ock, looks on in dismay.
“Soaring
egg prices are driving me crazy as it’s about to kill my business,” the
middle-aged South Korean street-food vendor says as she dips vegetables in yolk
before frying them. “Look at my menu, almost everything here needs an egg...not
only the pancakes but noodles as well. I can’t run my business if I don’t have
eggs.”
A few
blocks down the road, 44-year-old Jeon Min-jeong stands in the middle of a
discount supermarket, staring at a shelf stacked full of eggs while debating
whether she can afford them. The housewife usually buys 150 eggs a week to feed
her family of four, including a fitness-fanatic husband who relies on the
protein-rich foodstuff. Now she fears an eggless Lunar New Year awaits them.
The two
ladies are among millions of South Koreans reeling from the spread of bird flu,
which has gripped the nation in its most serious outbreak. The country raised
its threat level to its highest ever, and has culled more than 26 million birds
in farms across the land, making it one of the worst affected in the world. As
fear of consuming chickens sent the price slumping, the converse has happened
to eggs, with costs expected to more than double in the first half of this
year.
South Korea
isn’t alone in its suffering. Countries including Germany, France and Japan
have also discovered cases of avian influenza, while China, which also reported
an outbreak, halted poultry imports from bird-flu hit countries last month. But
South Korea has felt the most damage from the H5N6 flu strain, with authorities
culling about 17 percent of its national flock of chickens and 28 percent of
ducks as of Jan. 5, compared with 0.3 percent of poultry in Japan.
“This is
the first time we are dealing with the H5N6 virus and it’s spreading extremely
quickly,” Ji Seon-u, a hens and eggs researcher at Korea Rural Economics
Institute, said by phone. “The impact of avian influenza has never been this
bad and with the Lunar New Year coming close, egg consumption will increase,
which could further push up prices.”
Read also: Korea makes 'creative economy' a priority
Used in
traditional Korean dishes like Pajeon - a pan fried egg-based pancake with
scallions and green onions - South Koreans are relatively big egg eaters, with
about 250 eggs consumed per person in 2014, compared with 63 per capita in
India and 150 in South Africa.
The average
price of eggs sold by South Korean farmers soared 50 percent to 1,551 won
($1.30) for 10 standard-sized eggs in December from a year earlier, while the
average retail price rose 21.4 percent to 2 207 won, according to the Korea
Rural Economics Institute. Farm prices could surge as much as 110 percent in
the first half of 2017 due to the shortage of hens, the researcher said.
Meanwhile chickens, which the country typically consumes more of per capita
than Japan and China, has fallen 8 percent in price in December from before the
outbreak in October.
Tariffs
To ease the
price hike, the government in Seoul has removed tariffs on 98 600 tons of
imported eggs and egg products for the first half of this year. The nation
plans to import the commodity from five countries, including the US, Australia
and Spain, an official at the agriculture ministry, who asked not to be
identified, said by phone.
But that
may feel too late for eatery owner Kim, who says she hasn’t passed on the
egg-price increase to her customers for fear of losing business. What’s more
scary, she says, is the upcoming Lunar New Year on January 27, a time when she
can use as much as 1 800 eggs a day and is usually the peak of her pancake
sales.
Read also: Koreans avoid marriage, babies
For
high-egg consumer Jeon, the upcoming celebration is also causing anxiety.
“I am very
worried about how we will survive the Lunar New Year because prices will
probably remain high,” said Jeon. “If the prices go even higher, there’s a high
chance that we may go eggless, which is a very odd thing for my household.”
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