Summer hammers price of eggs

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Scorching heat has taken its toll on poultry too making even eggs costlier.

The price of the common man’s commodity has been on the upswing for the last few weeks and is expected to shoot up further if the rains don’t come on time.

Less feed intake by birds and lack of conducive temperature for egg laying have resulted in a drop in overall egg output in the state.

“Egg production in the state is down 10-15 per cent due to summer heat,” said Mr P. Mohanraj, chairman, National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), Tamil Nadu zone. The overall daily production has slipped from 3.25 crore eggs per day to 3 crore for now.

This in turn has had an impact on retail prices. Eggs, which were available for Rs 2.88 a piece in Chennai last month, now costs Rs 3.04 per piece.

This may even go up to Rs 3.20-levels if the monsoon is delayed, fear industry folks.

While the ideal egg-laying temperature is just about 30-35 degree Celsius, the scorching heat touching 42 degree Celsius is gruesome for birds, say farmers.

Due to excess heat, feed intake is low while water intake is high in hens and hence egg-laying is affected. The production drop is also attributed to lack of interest in farmers to expand their farms.

But due to high investment costs and low returns, most farmers are not keen on investing. “There has to be atleast 5-10 per cent increase in production every year to sustain demand. But now most farms are lying vacant,” laments Mr Mohanraj.

High feed costs are another deterrent for farmers to pool in more funds into their farms. Prices of soya, the main poultry feed, have shot from Rs 21/kg last month to `31/kg now. Rates of fishmeal and maize too have gone up though not considerably.

Exports are down with North refraining from eggs during summer and Middle East refusing to take in Indian eggs following bird flu fears despite the lifting of ban.