The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Egg prices shoot up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Egg prices shoot up

S. Sandeep Kumar

... thanks to low production and high feed cost

HYDERABAD: Sunday ho ya Monday roz khao anday - the popular jingle of National Egg Co-ordination Committee is now turning indigestible as price of eggs has shot up in the last few weeks. The price of dressed chicken too is hard to stomach these days.

The price of an egg is fluctuating between Rs. 2.50 and Rs. 2.75 while a kilogram of dressed chicken comes at Rs.80. It even touched Rs.100 in some areas. Eggs and chicken were offered at throwaway prices last year owing to the avian flu threats.

Maize price

The high price tags now are courtesy low production and high cost of feed, including maize and soya. Andhra Pradesh is the leading producer of eggs in the country with an output of 4.5 crores eggs a day. In the last few weeks production has gone down by 20 per cent, says National Egg Co-ordination Committee Executive Member D. Sudhakar.

The cost of feed too has shot up of late. Maize accounts for more than 80 per cent and soya, 15 per cent, of the cost of production of eggs and broilers.

Maize was sold at Rs. 500 per quintal last year but now it comes at Rs.700 and Rs.800. This cuts into the industry's revenue. "The only way to bring down high prices of egg and broilers is to exclude maize and soya from forward trading. That will stabilise the prices," says Mr. Sudhakar.

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