Egg on the boil as retail price zooms to Rs 6 apiece

NAMAKKAL: The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has fixed the procurement price of egg at Rs 5.50, up by 15 paise from its previous Rs 5.35 in Namakkal zone. The steep increase has in turn pushed the retail price of eggs to Rs 6 and above.

Though poultry farmers, who were facing severe loss due to COVID-19 impact, seems to have gotten some relief, the current price hike has left the consumers fuming.

Vangili Subramaniam, vice-president of Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Association said the poultry farmers were facing heavy loss as the production cost of egg rose to Rs 4.50 in the last one year due to a 40 per cent hike in poultry feed, raising labour wages and cost of chicks.

“But the eggs were sold at a much lesser rate. Still, the farmers continue to face the problem of ‘egg minus rate’ as buyers quote less than the amount fixed by the NECC.

Though now eggs are priced at Rs 5.50, they are bought at a lesser cost of Rs 5.15. In the last one year, several poultry farms were closed in the district,” he said.

The wary poultry farmers have therefore cut down on rearing chicks and eventually brought down egg production by 80 lakhs per day. Currently, 4.20 crore eggs were produced on a daily basis as against 5 crore earlier.

Egg prices may climb up further to a farm gate price of Rs six due to production cut. Annually, egg production would rise by 10 per cent, but this time around, it has come down by 20 per cent.

The farm gate price of eggs which stood at Rs 4.80 on June 1, increased gradually to Rs 5.05 on June 13 and further to Rs 5.35 on June 25 and has reached Rs 5.50.

Egg produced in Namakkal is sent to different states across the country and also to abroad.