Negros Occidental is producing at least 1.2 million eggs a day, which is more than sufficient to meet the province’s daily requirement amid the recent increase in the prices of the commodity, data of the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) on Monday showed.

Dr. Placeda Lemana, acting provincial veterinarian, said the continued rise in inflation that led to higher costs of raw materials, inputs, and labor pushed the prices of eggs up, based on the price monitoring last week.

“They (layers and growers) say that even though there is enough supply of eggs, they have to increase prices because of these reasons,” Lemana told Capitol reporters.

Data from the PVO showed that Negros Occidental consumes 900,000 to 1 million eggs a day compared to the daily production of 1.2 million eggs.

Lemana said with the excess in the supply, layer farms in the province also supply eggs to other provinces while Negros Occidental also brings in eggs from the neighboring Bantayan Island in Cebu.

Last month, some 7.4 million eggs were brought in from Bantayan Island while 1.7 million eggs were delivered in Negros Occidental from Jan.7 to 13 this year.

“If you have noticed, we accept only those from Cebu. We don’t bring in eggs from Mindanao, Luzon, Panay and Guimaras because of the bird flu,” the PVO chief said

On Dec. 6, Negros Occidental prohibited the entry of live birds and poultry products from the neighboring Panay Island provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique and Aklan and Guimaras Island as well as from Luzon and Mindanao, which have confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza or bird flu to protect its PHP8-billion poultry industry.

Exempted from the ban are certain products, including processed and unprocessed raw poultry meat, day-old chicks, and hatching eggs, including broiler, layer and breeder and embryonated eggs, popularly known as “balut”, that will be allowed entry regardless of shipping origin subject to compliance with requirements. (PNA)