Yesterday, a Colombian was elected chairman of the International Egg Commission (IEC). Juan Felipe Montoya, who was already vice chairman of the IEC is now the brand-new chairman of this very important organization dedicated, among several things, to promoting eggs – the best animal protein in the world – particularly in much needed countries.
But let’s be honest; it was about time that another Latin American was elected. It was 11 years ago that Mexico’s César de Anda was also elected chairman, meaning it took 49 years to get the first Latin American and 11 more to get the second.
Montoya is president of Huevos Kikes (also known as Incubadora Santander), the largest egg producer in Colombia, with 7 million hens, ranking 11th in the region. Huevos Kikes is a very well know brand in Colombia, and Montoya has been very good in managing the company.
Montoya is also on the board of directors for Fenavi, the National Poultry Producers Federation of Colombia, an organization that carries out fantastic international-awarded chicken and egg marketing campaigns and holds the world’s largest Spanish-speaking poultry congress, among other things.
Eggs are a central staple in Latin America, and Colombia is one of the most important producers and consumers. Latin America has some of the leading producers in the world, such as Mexico (172.8 million hens), Brazil (130.66 million hens), Argentina (53.11 million hens) and Colombia (51.33 million hens). These four countries grew from 2022 to 2023 an average of 5.7% and own 74% of the laying hen population in the region.
Moving to egg consumption, Mexico consumes 392 eggs per capita, Argentina 336 eggs and Colombia 323 eggs. How many countries in the world are above 300 eggs? Not many. As far as I know, Japan is the only one with 320 egg per person. Most European countries, China and the U.S. are in the 200s.
So, this is great. Another Latin American, the Brazilian Ricardo Santin, heads the International Poultry Council (IPC). It is great to see the region involved in world affairs.
Kudos to Juan Felipe Montoya. I am sure he will be a very good IEC chairman.
What do you think?
