Egg prices touched record high following increased supply demand gap.
The current farm gate price, as fixed by the National Egg Coordination Committee Namakal Chapter, increased to Rs 2.01 per unit while the same has been sold at Rs 2.40-2.50 in the retail market.
Increased supply, lower production, higher input costs and sudden demand due to cold weather on the back of continuous rains in southern parts of the country are the reasons for increase in prices, said Singaraj, president of All India Poultry Products Exporters Association.
Generally old layer birds, which lay eggs for around 72 weeks, are replaced by new birds. But poultry farms failed to replace layer chicks after export orders declined since the beginning of 2008. The Middle East countries banned importing Indian eggs following the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) putting India on the list of bird flu affected countries list in January after the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal. Following this, egg prices crashed to Rs 1.20 per unit that caused the poultry farms in the country to reduce placement of layer birds, particularly, in Namakal belt.
Namakal in Tamil Nadu is known as egg hub of India with the region accounting for 90% of egg exports from the country. Apart from exports, around 800 farms in Namakal zone cater to egg requirement of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Karnataka.
Reduction in replacement of layer birds is not only in southern states. Poultry farms across the country have been slowly reducing the placement of layer birds following zooming raw material prices, Singaraj added. Currently layer brids in the poultry farms across the country declined to 17-18 crore layer birds from 20-21 crore layer brids a year ago. In Namakal farms alone, layer birds declined to 3.5 crore birds from 4.25 crore birds.
In the raw material front, even after export ban, he said that the maize prices are at higher levels. Maize prices in the market yards are ruling above Rs 900 per quintal while in Tamil Nadu and some areas of Karnataka, maize spot prices are ruling at around Rs 1,100 per quintal. Other raw materials like soya extract price surged to Rs 24,000 per tonne from Rs 14,000 a year ago and sunflower extract prices doubled to Rs 12,000. The production cost of egg stands at Rs 1.90 per unit, Singaraj said. The producers could get some profit only if the farm gate price was fixed at Rs 2.50 per unit.
