Egg price hits record low
Chicken egg producers in Dinajpur and Joypurhat are incurring huge losses and struggling to continue the business as egg price has hit a record low in the last one month while the cost of chicken feed and medicine remains high.
Additional District Livestock Officer in Dinajpur Ashika Akbar Trisha and acting District Livestock Officer in Joypurhat Dr Md Mamunur Rashid said there are around 550 chicken egg farms and approximately 45.35 lakh chickens in Dinajpur and Joypurhat.
Around 38 lakh eggs are produced every day in these farms, the officials said.
They are selling each egg for Tk 4.50 to wholesalers, while the production cost is around Tk 5.80 per egg, farmers said.
Many unemployed educated youths in rural and urban areas in the districts took up poultry business, but they are now helpless due to the continuous price fall.
“Poultry farmers are frustrated due to the fall in the price of eggs in the markets,” said Md Firoz Ahmed of Karimpur village in Kalai upazila of Joypurhat.
He said he sold most of his egg laying chickens to reduce daily cost of running the farm.
Abdul Aziz of Bottoli village under Dinajpur Sadar upazila said he has a farm of 22,500 egg laying chickens and has sold 4,500 of them to cut his daily losses. “I am still incurring loss of Tk 9,000 per day,” he said.
Aziz told this correspondent that such low price of eggs has been continuing in the markets for around one month and there is no sign of improvement, adding that he has never witnessed such a price fall since he started poultry business 10 years ago. The price of each egg one month ago was Tk 6.00, which has dropped to around Tk 4.50. The price of poultry feed continues to rise, he added.
During a visit to the egg wholesale market at Bahadurbazar in Dinajpur, this correspondent found that eggs are being sold for Tk 550 per 100, while the price in the retail market is Tk 600 per 100. The price was Tk 800 for 100 eggs in the retail market about one month ago, traders said.
Razu Mia, a wholesale egg trader of Bahadurbazar market, said the supply of eggs has gone up manifold against the demand, which is one cause of price fall. Traders expected more price fall ahead.
Besides, traders of other districts are not coming to buy eggs there as before due to bad road connectivity with Dhaka, farmers said.
Moniruzzaman, a poultry feed trader at Kalitola in Dinajpur town, said many farmers are selling their egg laying chickens as they are unable to make profit due to the low price of eggs in markets.
Additional Livestock Officer in Dinajpur Dr Ashika said Dinajpur has surplus production of eggs. If the eggs cannot get to markets of other districts, farmers will not get fair price, she said.
“If farmers are deprived of their due price, it will ultimately harm the poultry sector,” she added.