Consumers are buying egg at prices much higher than their farm level selling rates mainly due to presence of middlemen at different stages of its supply chain.
The gap between farm and retail level prices of egg is now nearly 51 per cent, traders and producers said.
According to them, a dozen of egg was selling at as high as Tk 105 at the consumer level Friday compared to its farm-level price of Tk 69.9 per dozen.
Eggs usually change four to five hands before reaching the consumers' end, which is, according to traders, responsible for such a big difference in the prices between retail and farmer levels.
Under the present marketing system, brokers collect eggs from farmers and fix the rates with their own profit margin, market insiders said.
These eggs reach the consumer level after passing three stages -- wholesalers, local dealers and retailers, they said. And at every stage the price goes up by nearly Tk 100 on an average for 100 eggs, they added.
Samad, an egg trader at Rampura, told the FE that he bought eggs at a rate of Tk 730 per 100 pieces and sold the same at Tk 875.
According to sources, wholesalers supply 100 eggs to their local dealers at Tk 630 against their buying price of Tk 580 from the farms.
Consumers and traders said there is no proper market monitoring system from the government authority to handle such uneven price fixing.
Farmers, however, said though egg sellers sometimes incur loss as it is a perishable item and they are forced to give toll to the traffic police during transportation, the prices cannot be so high.
General Secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Humayun Kabir Bhuiya said the egg market is controlled by the middlemen. They fix prices at their sweet will.
So the consumers are forced to purchase eggs at a higher cost. They also buy eggs of inferior quality at the same price as there are A, B, C category eggs in the market as per their quality.
He said the government should fix prices at farm and retail levels so that consumers can get it at a reasonable price.
Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA) Joint Secretary General Khandokar Mohsin said a section of brokers have appeared in local areas over the last 3 to 4 years. Farmers cannot avoid them as they are political activists.
Sometimes producers incur loss but they have no alternative as there is no direct channel to supply eggs to the wholesalers or retailers, he said.
If there is sufficient number of cold storages across the country, the farmers can supply their product directly to wholesale and retail markets. And the consumers could get egg at a price nearer to the production cost, he added.
Referring to the egg prices in some neighbouring countries, the BPIA leader said the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) in India controls the egg market there. As per the NECC rules, the retailers cannot charge more than 40 paise per egg from farm level price in Kolkata.
In our country a price-fixing committee was formed in 2010 with representatives from the ministries of commerce, finance and livestock and traders; but it is now inactive due to apathy of the authorities concerned, Mr Mohsin mentioned.
Tejgaon Egg Traders Association (TETA) Chief Adviser Makhon Khan also put emphasis on setting up an adequate number of cold storages so that the prices of egg remain stable at the retail level.
According to the TETA, nearly 6.0 to 6.5 million eggs enter the Tejgaon market every day which are supplied to the big markets. The demand for eggs is around 22.5 million per day in the country.
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