The egg price, which touched ₹5.85 per egg in the fourth week of December in Namakkal, has now reduced to ₹5.15 per egg, and poultry owners claim that they are incurring 10 to 15 paise loss per egg.
Per day, more than six crore eggs are produced in Namakkal district through over 1,100 poultry units. Eggs are sent to various parts of the State, besides Kerala, Karnataka, and the north Indian States. Eggs are exported to foreign countries, including Oman, Dubai, and the United Arab Emirates.
Due to the cold climate prevailing in various parts of the country, egg consumption has increased, and following that, the single egg price in Namakkal touched ₹5.85 per egg last month. But within two weeks, the price of the eggs have come down to ₹5.15 on Thursday evening.
Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Marketing Society Vangli Subramaniam said that poultry owners are facing some issues in exporting eggs to foreign countries and orders from foreign countries have also come down.
Now, the poultry farm owners are exporting eggs in their individual capacity. So, the Union and State governments should guide them in exporting eggs as poultry farms give jobs to lakhs of people.
The other important factor is that supply of eggs to north Indian States has reduced due to the poultry business starting to boom there, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The State governments are giving subsidies to the poultry farms there, impacting the egg supply from Namakkal, Mr. Subramaniam added.
Stating that the price of eggs will increase after the Pongal festival, Mr. Subramaniam added that in 1976, the price of an egg was 33 paise and the price of a single tea was 25 paise. After 48 years, the egg price is between ₹5 and ₹6. Now, the price of a single tea is ₹12. But the public expresses shock if the egg price touches more than ₹5.50.
The cost of raw materials has increased greatly, and for the production of a single egg, ₹5 to ₹5.25 is needed. Due to the price reduction of eggs, poultry owners are facing loss, Mr. Subramaniam added.
