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The price of an egg increased to a new record of Rs 3.33 on rise in demand following the onset of South-West monsoon.
The price is expected to go up further in the next few days, though marginally, according to the Chairman of NECC, Namakkal Zone, Mr P. Selvaraj.
Sources in the poultry industry expect even chicken prices to rise further in coming days. “Of our average production of 2.75 crore eggs (in Namakkal), we used to send 30 lakh eggs to Kerala. Now, it has almost doubled owing to a ban on fishing in that State,” said a poultry-unit owner in Namakkal.
Since last week, the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), Namakkal zone, has hiked the price by 11 paise from Rs 3.22.
Mr P. Selvaraj said that the increase in egg price was due to continued demand.
From May 26 to June 28, the wholesale price of egg has been raised 15 times from Rs 2.75 to Rs 3.33 (an overall increase of 19 per cent).
A host of factors such as rise in consumption, spiralling input costs, pricey vegetables, ban on fishing in the neighbouring Kerala and Karnataka have catapulted egg prices.
Also soaring cost of soyameal – a key ingredient in poultry feed is also one of the reasons. Soyameal at Indore ruled at Rs 33,330-33,600 on Thursday against Rs 17,300 - 17,400 during the corresponding date a year ago. Feed costs account for two-thirds of production cost at a poultry unit.
On the export front, the industry is pinning hopes on neighbouring Bangladesh that has opened its gates to imports to meet Ramadan demand. Exports hit a 10-year low of 240.88 lakh eggs in May this year against 330.62 lakh eggs in May 2011.However, prices of layer birds have been cut to Rs 48/kg (Rs 54), while the Broiler Coordination Committee has slashed chicken prices to Rs 60/kg from last week's record Rs 76.
Industry sources said that the price of layer birds had come down as the production of broiler chicken – that dropped in the summer – had started picking up with the onset of the monsoon. This has led to drop in the prices as layer bird prices are based on the demand and price of broiler chicken.
>gayathri.gururajan@thehindu.co.in
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