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 The downgrade was introduced from Wednesday as no new cases of the
virus have emerged for about two weeks, but government sources said
egg imports would keep pouring into the country as it would take
time for domestic output to recover after more than a fifth of the
nation's total poultry population was culled.
An agriculture ministry official said local supply would return to
normal in the second half of the year, but that in the meantime
imports would continue, mainly from Australia.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the government was
also looking to clear egg imports from Thailand. Shipments from the
United States were halted after a bird flu outbreak there.
Jeju Miyin Corp, a trading and distribution company, will ship in
around 400,000 of Australian brown-shelled eggs, or 20 tonnes, of
eggs per week until local egg prices stabilize, said company head
Mark Yun.
The average retail price of 30 eggs was at 7,671 won ($6.71) as of
Tuesday, up 35.6 percent since the first bird flu outbreak was
confirmed on Nov. 18, according to data from state-run Korea
Agro-Fisheries & Food Corp.
The first batch of seaborne imports by Jeju Miyin is scheduled to
arrive on Wednesday at the port of Busan, Yun said. Previously most
cargoes had come by air.
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The imported eggs will be mainly distributed to restaurants and
grocery stores.
"A total of 1 million eggs are en route to South Korea and will
arrive within the next three weeks," he said, referring to imports
by his company.
(Reporting by Jane Chung; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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