Egg exports grow to record numbers

TIRANA, Feb. 5 – Egg production in the country’s poultry farms has registered a sharp increase in recent years, with exports climbing by several times and imports dropping to almost negligible levels due to domestic production meeting all of the country’s needs. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture show some 215 million eggs were produced in the first nine months of 2012 from the country’s 15 specialized poultry farms with production expected to climb to 250 million for the whole year, compared to 236 million in 2005 and 329 million in 2009 when the number of poultry farms was at 24 and 21 respectively.
Exports of eggs during the past eight years have increased by a record 30 times climbing from 1.6 million in 2005 to 47.3 million in the first nine months of 2012. Meanwhile, imports fell from 2.8 million eggs in 2005 to 0.16 million in the first nine months of 2012.
Data from the Agriculture Ministry show Albania had 247,000 chicken farms in 2011, with around 6.6 million poultry producing 858 million eggs.