Egg prices jump
Mahmuda Shaolin | Sunday, 6 July 2008
Egg prices in Dhaka retail markets jumped by Tk 19-Tk 20 per dozen Saturday, following supply shortage as some of the larger poultry farms are not being able to produce enough to meet the demand, an industry official said.
According to industry operators and retail traders, a section of businessmen were taking advantage of the supply shortfall.
A dozen eggs are now selling at Tk 84-Tk 87 in the retail markets.
"Prices of eggs ranged between Tk 84-Tk 87 per dozen Saturday compared to Tk 65-Tk 70 two weeks ago mainly due to shortfall in supply," a trader in the city's Karwan Bazar said.
Traders in the city's Thatari Bazar wholesale market said prices of poultry egg, duck egg and local bird (quail) egg were selling at Tk 620 per 100 pieces, Tk 650 per 100 pieces and Tk 680 per 100 pieces respectively while in Moulvi Bazar wholesale market those were selling at Tk 610, Tk 620 and Tk 640 per hundred pieces respectively.
Sector insiders said production of eggs and poultry meat in the farms that were adversely affected by the bird-flu virus have not yet started production in full swing and hence the price hike.
"Prices of eggs surged due to shortage in supply," Kaiser Rahman, president of Bangladesh Poultry Industry Association (BPIA), said.
About 50 percent of poultry farms have closed down after the outbreak of bird flu making 2.5 million people out of the six million involved in the sector jobless, according to Bangladesh chapter of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA).
Industry insiders said the annual demand for eggs in the country is around 5.0 billion pieces but now farmers are producing only about 1.5 billion chicken eggs.
"When broiler chicken farming is making a slow recovery, egg-laying chicken farming is not picking up amid farmers' worry over the possible return of bird flu disease in the coming winter," said BPIA technical adviser M M Khan Saturday.
Sources said a day-old chick requires over five months to start laying eggs, which means if a farmer starts farming of layer chicken today, he or she will have to wait until October, a month that may see the return of avian influenza, or bird flu disease. This time-consuming factor usually results in such unwillingness on the farmers' part to go for layer chicken farming.
BPIA official said farmers are now more interested to produce broiler chicken because the returns can be expected in a month's time.
"But they have to wait for about six months to get egg from layer chicken," the officials informed.
There should be steps to encourage the small and medium entrepreneurs, who are scared of the disease, to restart their business, the official said adding otherwise the supply shortage might turn critical in the near future.
According to official estimate, the industry incurred losses worth Tk 40 billion with layer chicken farmers being the worst hit. But there is no estimate about the country's domestic birds including duck and local chicken.
Mr. Khan stressed the need for immediate implementation of short and long term plans stressing on easy bank loans for small farmers.
The government announced payment of Tk 90 against each poultry bird culled during the outbreak of avian flu virus.
For the recovery of the sector, the government has given the poultry sector tax-holiday facility and proposed duty exemption for import of vaccines and feeds in the recently announced budget.
The latest budgetary proposals will help the sector make a fast recovery. But it will take at least a few months more to see the budgetary impact on the price, Mr. Khan said.
"The price of egg and poultry birds will come down once the sector recovers fully," he affirmed.
According to industry operators and retail traders, a section of businessmen were taking advantage of the supply shortfall.
A dozen eggs are now selling at Tk 84-Tk 87 in the retail markets.
"Prices of eggs ranged between Tk 84-Tk 87 per dozen Saturday compared to Tk 65-Tk 70 two weeks ago mainly due to shortfall in supply," a trader in the city's Karwan Bazar said.
Traders in the city's Thatari Bazar wholesale market said prices of poultry egg, duck egg and local bird (quail) egg were selling at Tk 620 per 100 pieces, Tk 650 per 100 pieces and Tk 680 per 100 pieces respectively while in Moulvi Bazar wholesale market those were selling at Tk 610, Tk 620 and Tk 640 per hundred pieces respectively.
Sector insiders said production of eggs and poultry meat in the farms that were adversely affected by the bird-flu virus have not yet started production in full swing and hence the price hike.
"Prices of eggs surged due to shortage in supply," Kaiser Rahman, president of Bangladesh Poultry Industry Association (BPIA), said.
About 50 percent of poultry farms have closed down after the outbreak of bird flu making 2.5 million people out of the six million involved in the sector jobless, according to Bangladesh chapter of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA).
Industry insiders said the annual demand for eggs in the country is around 5.0 billion pieces but now farmers are producing only about 1.5 billion chicken eggs.
"When broiler chicken farming is making a slow recovery, egg-laying chicken farming is not picking up amid farmers' worry over the possible return of bird flu disease in the coming winter," said BPIA technical adviser M M Khan Saturday.
Sources said a day-old chick requires over five months to start laying eggs, which means if a farmer starts farming of layer chicken today, he or she will have to wait until October, a month that may see the return of avian influenza, or bird flu disease. This time-consuming factor usually results in such unwillingness on the farmers' part to go for layer chicken farming.
BPIA official said farmers are now more interested to produce broiler chicken because the returns can be expected in a month's time.
"But they have to wait for about six months to get egg from layer chicken," the officials informed.
There should be steps to encourage the small and medium entrepreneurs, who are scared of the disease, to restart their business, the official said adding otherwise the supply shortage might turn critical in the near future.
According to official estimate, the industry incurred losses worth Tk 40 billion with layer chicken farmers being the worst hit. But there is no estimate about the country's domestic birds including duck and local chicken.
Mr. Khan stressed the need for immediate implementation of short and long term plans stressing on easy bank loans for small farmers.
The government announced payment of Tk 90 against each poultry bird culled during the outbreak of avian flu virus.
For the recovery of the sector, the government has given the poultry sector tax-holiday facility and proposed duty exemption for import of vaccines and feeds in the recently announced budget.
The latest budgetary proposals will help the sector make a fast recovery. But it will take at least a few months more to see the budgetary impact on the price, Mr. Khan said.
"The price of egg and poultry birds will come down once the sector recovers fully," he affirmed.