The Hindu Business Line : Winter demand buoys eggs

FRESH winter demand has buoyed shell egg prices in Tamil Nadu with the Namakkal-based National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) raising the farm-gate (wholesale) price for layer eggs to Rs 1.50 a piece, amidst market indication that the shell egg demand would remain stronger for the next two or three weeks.

This is the first time in the current year, the wholesale rate for the table egg has touched the Rs 1.50-mark.

Sources in the egg trade in Namakkal attribute the price surge to the demand for eggs from north Indian consumption centres to tackle the onset of winter, when egg consumption tends to go up.

Almost the entire surplus supplies of eggs from Hyderabad zone are being moved to North to cater the demand causing supply gap in the open purchase segments in South, especially in the Chennai market. Higher off-take has also buoyed the Hyderabad egg market, where the per piece price has breached Rs 1.50 this week.

Supplies from Namakkal zone to Kerala, too, has gone up this week, raising from 35 lakh eggs to 40 lakhs, where the fishing activity remained slow due to monsoon.

The export of shell egg from the region continues to do well and the volume of shipment, which is said to be in the order of 130 plus container-loads for October is believed to have touched 150 containers for November 2005.

In the face of some 10 per cent drop in the daily egg production at farm level due to weather related developments between Oct-November, the trade stock was minimal in the last two weeks, the sources added.

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