32-paise drop in egg price

Wholesale egg price in Namakkal dropped to Rs.2.45 on Tuesday, which was 32 paise less than the price on Monday (Rs.2.77).

The decision was taken at the National Egg Coordination Committee's rate fixation meeting held at its zonal office here on Tuesday.

Tamil Nadu Zone Chairman of the NECC P. Selvaraj said they were forced to reduce the price drastically due to consumer resistance over the price hike over the last few weeks.

The price kept ticking at the higher end keeping in mind the intensive cold in North India.

“Despite the winter being severe in those States, consumption dropped unexpectedly forcing wholesalers to drop the price by 57 paise in the last seven days,” Dr. Selvaraj added.

This is much less than the monthly average price recorded in the previous three months - October (Rs.2.53), November (Rs.2.79) and December (Rs.2.52) 2010.

The drop in price has hit the nearly 900 poultry farmers of the town by forcing them to incur a loss of 10 to 20 paise per egg as the price at which it was procured from them was Rs.2.25 (20 paise more is added to it by the NECC towards handling and freight charges).

Poultry farmers said the drop was acceptable as they enjoyed a good profit of nearly 40 paise per egg when the wholesale price hit a record high of Rs.3.02 on January 10 and remained the same till January 19.

They expect the existing stock with retailers to be cleared in a day or two. From then on the price of the fresh stock is likely to be Rs.3 or less, which will boost retail sale.

NECC sources here said that the movement of egg was pretty slow in all the other NECC zones across the country as well. “With today's drop we have recorded the present lowest price in the country.”