25.08.2012

Mexican officials have blamed speculators in the wholesale egg business for driving up prices after an epidemic of avian influenza.

A summer epidemic of avian influenza in the heart of Mexico's egg industry has doubled the cost of a kilogram, or about 13 eggs, to more than 40 pesos ($3.0), a major blow to working- and middle-class consumers in a country that consumes more than 350 eggs a person each year.

Egg prices have dominated the nation's headlines for a week, spurring Mexico City's mayor to ship tons of cheap eggs to poor neighbourhoods.

The federal government has announced emergency programs to restock supermarkets with eggs imported from the US and Central America.

The national dismay over egg prices has revealed the unappreciated importance of a cheap, easy source of protein that's nearly as important to Mexican kitchens as tortillas, rice and beans.

The president announced about $227 million in emergency financing and commercial measures to restore production and replace about 11 million chickens slaughtered after the June outbreak of avian influenza.