Drop in production, craze for protein in diet push egg price to all-time high of Rs 6 in TN

Besides a ‘forced’ drop in production by poultry farms due to the COVID-19 induced crisis, a sharp increase in consumption of the protein rich eggs by people to boost immunity has also led to a sharp mismatch in the supply and demand chain resulting in the sudden skyrocketing of egg prices. 

Interestingly, egg prices tend to remain high in the Tamil month of ‘purattasi’, when many Hindus abstain from consuming non-vegetarian food and eggs. Poultry farmers said that the farms in Namakkal dropped production by up to one crore eggs soon after the outbreak of COVID-19 as consumption plummeted due to unsubstantiated fears that eggs transmit the virus. Then, the farm gate price of eggs crashed to its lowest ever of Rs 1.95 paise per piece in the month of March. After facing heavy loss and shutting down of several poultry units, the 1,100 odd poultry farms in Namakkal got some relief with the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) fixing procurement price of eggs at Rs 5.25 paise per piece, up by 20 paise from its previous price of 5.05 paise in Namakkal zone. 

Incidentally, the egg prices have now beat their own record of 5.16 paise, the last highest farm gate price fixed by NECC on 16 November, 2017. Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Marketing Society (TNEPFMS) president ‘Vangili’ Subramaniam said that following a price crash due to the COVID crisis, the farmers culled lakhs of egg laying birds, stopped rearing chicks and eventually reduced egg production by up to one crore per day. “Currently 3.25 crore eggs are being produced on a daily basis as against 4.25 crore eggs produced before coronavirus outbreak. 

With the demand shooting up, the farmers have once again ramped up production and may reach four crore eggs per day within a fortnight,” he said. 

Dr PV Senthil, a farmer cum exporter and general secretary of Livestock and Agri Farmers Trade Association said that prices of eggs may continue to hover above Rs 4.50 until the end of winter season till January. “Normally egg consumption is high during winter and it’s more now than before as everyone looks to boost immunity. Thereafter prices may normalise,” he said.