Egg sales up in Covid second wave

Mysuru: The second wave of Covid 19 pushed egg sales up from previous 2.5 -3 lakhs per day to 5.5 -6 lakhs a day in Mysuru district. Egg is protein-rich food and also cheapest source of protein. The doctors are recommending patients to have eggs for the body to increase resistance power. It has been included in the regular hospital diet along with lunch and dinner, especially for the patients who are on the recovery.

The surge of sales has also been caused by health department officials who are advising people to have an egg daily whether Covid-infected or not. The district has 120- 130 poultry farms which was producing 25 to 30 lakh eggs daily. Now production has decreased to 12-15 lakh a day.

The district consumption which was 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh a day has now increased to 5 to 5.5 lakhs a day. On other hand many poultries had closed following Covid 19 lockdown. Owing to increased consumption and decreased production the price of egg also increased in retail market from 3.50- 4 rs to 5.50- 6 rupees now.

Speaking to reporters, V Seshanarayana, Sales Promotion Officer of National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), Mysuru said that before Covid, Mysureans used to consume 2 lakh eggs per day and now the consumption has shot up. The demand has peaked despite bakeries and roadside eateries — largest buyers — shutting down due to lockdown.

The high demand and shortage in production have caused prices to increase, he added. He said the additional eggs produced in district are sent to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and even districts like Mandya, Hassan and Kodagu. He said poultry feed is not coming from Gujarat and Rajasthan forced poultry owners to stop production. He said after unlocking it would take two months to come back to normal business.