SL gives green light to import eggs from India

COLOMBO: After months long dillydallying over changes in local price and the issue of bird flu, Sri Lanka Cabinet has allowed import of eggs from India, a government sources said on Tuesday.

The government stated that Cabinet's nod was given to import eggs from India on the condition that they do not bring bird flu. A temporary permission had been granted to import eggs for a period of two months, a minister stated.

However, the imported eggs would be directly released to the industries that use eggs on a mass scale. Eggs would not be released to local markets. With the economic crisis that lead to the dollar crunch, since last year, there was a shortage in production of eggs and its prices rose to 300 per cent.

As the egg producers and sellers were manipulating the markets and selling at exuberant prices, the state-run Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) had to impose a maximum retail price (MRP) on eggs.

As an immediate solution, the government is resorting to importing eggs from India but the Animal Production and Health Department protested against importing eggs from India or Pakistan citing bird flu outbreak there.