Egg prices down by 40 paise in four days at Namakkal

“We could withstand the ‘bird flu’ impact. But now the sale has come down considerably due to demonetisation of the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currencies,” said R Nallathambi of Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association.  “Due to this scenario, we are directly incurring loss to the tune of Rs. 2 crore a day,” he added. The problem was not felt for the first few days as the wholesale shops accepted the demonetised notes. With traders now refusing to accept the old notes and unavailability of currencies in lesser denominations, the wholesale price of the egg has touched Rs 3.62 per piece on Thursday. 

“Price drop this season is contrary to the usual scenario as it used to increase from October to December and maintain till mid-January due to the freezing winter in the northern states. This used to be the best season of the year for us,” Nallathambi told DTNext. Farmers said that a few crore eggs have got stagnated and feared that that the wholesale price could drop further. Secretary of Livestock and Agri Farmers Trade Association PV Senthil said that egg is mostly a cash and carry business at the wholesale and retail level. 

“We unload eggs in at a few wholesale points and collect money in hand. On the retail sector many people buy two to 12 eggs a day at the nearby grocery shop. They don’t stock it as it is a perishable commodity. People are unable to buy eggs by exchanging the Rs. 2,000 currencies,” he said. Farm price of culled birds (aged egg laying birds) also reduced from Rs 70 per kg last week to Rs 60 now. It is feared that it could go down further. Farmers said that it could take a few weeks for the farm price of eggs and cull birds to go up.