Egg price skyrockets

Vizianagaram: The joy of poultry farmers knew no bounds as the price of egg has been shooting up in the State. The price rise is steady and brought a smile on the faces of farmers while the consumers are bearing the brunt. Egg saw a steady rise in price in the past four days. It has shot up from Rs 4 per egg to Rs 5.50 per egg.

• Decline in production coupled with demand in other States led traders to concentrate on exports leading to a shortfall in local market

There are around 4,000 poultry farms in the state and most of these are located in north Andhra, East and West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts. These farms produce around 3.5 to 4 crore eggs every day and around 70 per cent of the produce is exported to other States. According to rough estimates, as much as 2.5 crore eggs are exported to other States every day.

As many as 170 trucks carry eggs to Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand. However, due to the high temperatures in the past few days, the production of eggs declined drastically leading to rising in the price of eggs. Moreover, there is a huge demand for eggs in north India and to profit from the demand traders are experts eggs creating a shortfall in the domestic market.

Speaking to The Hans India, K Ram Naidu, a wholesale dealer, said that as the demand in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal is high, traders are keen to exports eggs to cash in on the demand. “This coupled with the decline in production due to high temperatures created a shortfall in domestic market leading to increasing in the price of eggs,” he added.

K Sridevi, a consumer from Balajinagar in the city said that the price of eggs has shot up in the past four days. “Rumours are rife that the price might even touch Rs 6 per egg,” she exclaimed. It should be noted that the price of the egg in the bullion market as on date is at Rs 3.90 per egg.