India is set to export a record 50 million eggs this month, boosted by sales to Malaysia, where there have been acute shortages as soaring feed prices caused by the Ukraine war forced many small-scale farmers to cut output, industry officials said according to Reuters.

It said Middle Eastern countries, including Oman and Qatar, are the main buyers of eggs from India, but over the past few months, Indian hatcheries have received large orders from surprising quarters as output fell in some of the world’s top suppliers.

The biggest surprise order came from Malaysia, which otherwise used to export eggs to Singapore and other Asian countries.

To secure egg supplies as prices rose to record highs, Malaysia’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Mohamad Sabu visited Namakkal, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where several leading hatcheries are based.

“For the first time, Malaysia is buying large quantities of eggs from India, and it seems that India’s egg exports to Malaysia will remain strong during the first half of 2023,” Sasti Kumar, the joint managing director at Namakkal-based Ponni Farms, one of India’s leading egg exporters, told Reuters.

Reuters said India shipped 5 million eggs to Malaysia in December, and will ship 10 million in January and up to 15 million in February, according Kumar.

The imports from India have helped Malaysia bring prices down from the record highs seen in late December. Having suffered a shortfall of 157 million eggs in November, the market gap was down to just one million in December, the Malaysian Minister said in a statement earlier this week.

Govt. slaps new MRP for eggs