GOVERNMENT will allow the importation of a container of eggs to ease a shortage on the domestic market.

“There is a tightness but not a massive shortage …the ministry has recommended the approval for duty waiver on the importation of a container of eggs to relieve the situation,” Michael Pryce, director of the agriculture ministry’s Data Bank and Evaluation Division, told the Business Observer on Monday.

According to Pryce, the current shortage was triggered by the passage of Tropical Storm Nicole in October. He noted that the “shock” of the storm adversely affected the local chicken population’s ability to produce eggs.

President of the Jamaica Egg Farmers Association Mark Campbell confirmed that local chickens are producing eggs below normal levels, though he didn’t state the reason.

“The production is just not there…I’m speaking to a large number of farmers who are producing way below capacity,” revealed Campbell.

Campbell noted that the shortage exists despite the fact that the chicken inventory level is near an all-time high.

“Normally we have somewhere between 450,000 and 500,000 birds and anytime you go over that we normally end up with an oversupply. Now, what we have is 600,000 birds and yet we are massively short,” he said, contradicting the extent of the shortage disclosed by the ministry.

Official figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture reveal that, with just over two weeks to spare, 20 million fewer eggs have been produced so far this year compared to the 129 million eggs produced in 2009. However, the 31.8 million eggs produced so far over the last quarter of 2010 is just marginally less than the 32.6 million eggs produced over the corresponding period last year.

Pryce explained that the statistic reflects the fact that there was a huge fallout in production levels earlier this year because one major egg farmer dropped out of the market. He said that other players had since picked up production, but the trauma caused by Tropical Storm Nicole on local chickens has slowed the rebound.

Clinton McGann Farms Limited, once the largest egg farmer in Jamaica, has been producing significantly below capacity for months.

“We are still producing but I’m not the Clinton McGann of yesterday…We are producing way below capacity,” proprietor of the farm Clinton McGann informed this newspaper.