The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) Namakkal zone, at it price fixation meeting, on Thursday decided to maintain egg prices at Rs 3.02 a piece. This is six paise more than the previous highest price of Rs 2.96 recorded on January 7.

Mr P Selvaraj, Zonal Chairman of the NECC-Tamil Nadu, told Business Line that the prevailing cold wave in North India is the main reason for the price hike as the seasonal market attracted an average 25 lakh eggs a day of Namakkal's average daily production of 2.75 crore eggs. Consumption of eggs usually goes up in the winter. Prices in the South are still the lowest in the country with Bangalore (Rs 3.00), Mysore (Rs 3.01), Chennai (Rs 3.05) and Hyderabad (Rs 3.08) compared with other production hubs in the country such as Mumbai (Rs 3.33), Kolkata (Rs 3.40) and Delhi (Rs 3.53).

“The procurement price from the farmers is somewhere around Rs 2.80 and fixed at Rs 3.02 after including the transportation cost. We don't see any price drop until the temperature rises in the North,” he said.

Mr A. Shivakumar, Managing Director of the Coimbatore-based VKS Farms, said: “Transportation problems in the North due to dense fog are heating up the egg prices. However, it (the price rise) may not sustain for long and we could see a downward correction in the next two weeks once the fog disappears and the visibility is clear,” he said.

Consistent demand

However, industry sources – going by the Met Department's prediction that the cold wave could extend till February – say possibilities of a drop in price are less.

“We see a consistent demand as more and more people now go in for eggs instead of pricey vegetables. Rain has resulted in a vegetable shortage and eggs are gaining since it is seen as the only balanced diet at a lower price,” they said. NECC's prices for layer birds remain almost flat at Rs 32 while the Broiler Coordination Committee has hiked the rates of cull birds to Rs 47/kg from last week's Rs 44.

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