American Egg Board Looks to Indonesia, Southeast Asia for Export Growth

The President and CEO of the American Egg Board says egg producers are looking at overseas markets to grow demand. Emily Metz says prices are low and southeast Asia could be a good customer.

“Southeast Asia has a lot of opportunities for egg products, both liquid and dried, particularly in the bakery, the hospitality, and the manufacturing spaces.”

Metz traveled to Indonesia with the USDA recently, and she says it was great to connect with companies and USDA about egg products.

“We had with us one of our farmers, Sean Delano from Mid-State Specialty Eggs, and he talked to Under Secretary Luke Lindberg about all of the opportunities for egg products overseas and how trade is a vital priority for the American Egg Board this year.”

The U.S. and Indonesia are working on a trade deal and, while few details are known, Metz says non-tariff trade barriers, like import quotas, are expected to be resolved.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

Exploring new market opportunities overseas is an incredibly good way to increase sales. The American Egg Board’s efforts should lead to expansion of trade with those countries they visited recently. Plus, USDA has funding available to assist such organizations with new market development. Many commodity organizations have followed a similar path to successful market expansion. We wish the egg producers well with their latest endeavors.

Expanding agricultural markets typically leads to higher incomes for those products. This often leads to farmers/ranchers seeking methods to reduce tax burdens. Higher incomes typically lead to more purchases of trucks. Be sure to promote the recent changes in our tax laws that provide for 100% depreciation in the year of purchase. That alone is a huge savings, but coupled with programs like CADFI and AgPack® the benefits can be enormous.