Egg exports dwindle as production dips

COIMBATORE: Egg exports from the poultry hub of Namakkal have dwindled considerably to Middle East countries and hitherto stopped completely to Malaysia, which of late emerged as a new market for egg exports.

Egg exports to Malaysia took off on a promising note with the shipment of five million eggs a few months ago. The shipment of eggs to Malaysia gave scope for further expanding egg exports from Namakkal to South East Asian countries including Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

“But egg exports to Malaysia were stopped completely due to the price factor. As prices of our eggs are going upward with a dip in production since the onset of summer, the buyers in Malaysia turned their focus on alternative markets like Thailand, which supplies eggs at a lower cost than ours. Also, they prefer brown eggs rather than the white eggs produced by our farmers,” said Vangili Subramanian, president of the Tamil Nadu Egg Marketing Society.

Even though egg exports commenced with a substantial increase from an average of eight crore eggs per month last year to 12 crore eggs since January this year, its volume has begun to plummet in recent days.

“Over the last two weeks, the farm gate price of eggs has risen to Rs 5.15 paise per egg from Rs 4.70 paise to Rs 4.80 paise before. Overall, the egg exports have come down by 15 per cent, which in terms of volume is up to three crore eggs from around ten crore eggs,” he said.

Poultry farmers attribute triple reasons for the increase in the prices of eggs. One is that egg production usually comes down during summer due to soaring temperatures.

Secondly, the demand has come down from importing nations, a majority of which are Gulf countries due to summer in those places also, when egg consumption usually goes down. Another factor is overall production has dropped as several poultry farms were shut down due to loss induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in the last few years. Therefore, the number of egg-laying birds is down by 10 to 15 per cent in Namakkal.

Eggs are mainly sent to Gulf nations like Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and Muscat, and Oman. The farmers however are hopeful that production will come to normalcy as the market for eggs has improved both in the domestic and export sectors. Despite the export market remaining sluggish, the domestic market continues to be good due to the existing mismatch in production and demand for eggs.

“There is a drop in production for the domestic market by up to 15 per cent. From the usual 4.5 crore eggs per day, the production has dropped by 50 lakh eggs. Therefore, the demand remains high due to the prevailing shortage of eggs,” said S Murugesan, a poultry farmer.

Scorching summer heat makes chicken most priciest in market

As the sun blazes down, the prices of broiler chicken keep going skyward with rising temperature taking a toll on its production.

The retail price of chicken in Coimbatore rose to Rs 300 per kg on Sunday, as against Rs 260 until last week and Rs 240 in the first week of May.

“This is for the first time; the retail price of chicken has increased to Rs 300 per kg in Coimbatore. Around 40 tonnes of chicken is required on weekdays and upto 120 tonnes on Sundays for sales in over 1,300 meat shops in the district. However, the supply has come down by 50 per cent due to a dip in production,” said P Ramesh, member of Coimbatore District Broiler Chicken Sellers Association. Almost 40 per cent of chicks couldn’t survive the soaring heat and end up dying. Apart from the temperature toll, the export of chicken to neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has compounded the existing shortage. Moreover, the existing ban on fishing in sea has also added up to the rising demand for chicken.

Due to increase in prices of broiler chicken, its sales have also come down drastically in shops. “Only this year, the impact of summer is high and therefore, it has taken a heavy toll in both production and sale of broiler chicken. In Tirupur, areas like Palladam and Udumalpet remain a hub for broiler chicken production,”

However, once the temperature dips, the production of chicken would get back to normalcy. With a rise in prices of broiler chicken, the hotel industry selling non-vegetarian foods have begun to face its impact and are passing on the additional cost burden on customers.

“We buy chicken at a wholesale price of Rs 280 per kg, which is a sharp increase from the previous months. Left with no other option, we have increased the price of chicken-65 from Rs 100 to Rs 120 per plate in the last two days. If prices of live chicken keep increasing, we will then be forced to increase prices of other non-vegetarian dishes too,” said a hotelier in Coimbatore.