Marginal hike in egg price; chicken rates cut

After ruling flat for almost ten days, prices of poultry products have been raised marginally in Tamil Nadu in view of slowdown in consumption.

Namakkal-based National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has decided to marginally increase the egg prices to Rs 2.30 a piece from last week's Rs 2.28. NECC has increased rates for its layer birds at Rs 44/kg (Rs 42) — the highest since January this year, while the Palladam-based Broiler Coordination Committee has slashed live chicken prices to Rs 57/kg from last week's Rs 61.

The slowdown has been caused by a confluence of factors — lower domestic offtake , slack export demand and lack of supply to the noon meal centres, a major consumer of Tamil Nadu's shell eggs — across the State owing to summer vacation.

Dr P. Selvaraj, Zonal Chairman, NECC, said that the price of egg and cull birds would increase soon and stabilise later because of the increasing demand for animal protein during summer. He said that the industry usually experiences a temporary lull during March-May.

On the export front, too, things are not rosy with the Gulf countries still wary of importing eggs from India. Sri Lanka evinced interest at importing eggs initially this year but things still remain at enquiry level and nothing has been materialised, said an NECC official. Namakkal exported around 396.75 lakh eggs in April this year, while last year it was at 559.70 lakh eggs.