Commerce Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir has warned egg traders against squeezing consumers through abnormal price rises, excess profits or artificial shortages. He was speaking on Sunday at a meeting with egg and poultry businesses at the commerce ministry's conference room in the Secretariat, held to review egg production and supply.

Traders told the meeting that higher prices of poultry-feed ingredients such as maize and soybean have pushed the cost of producing an egg to about Tk 11. By their figures, the average farm-gate price of an egg was Tk 7.91 in January this year and about Tk 11.30 in September. Between producer and retailer, they said, Tk 1.50-2 is usually added, and for much of the year eggs sell below cost.

To smooth seasonal price swings, the traders proposed storing eggs for a month to a month and a half when output is high. They also asked for fairer turnover and income tax, control of feed-ingredient prices, fewer transport and marketing barriers, and daily publication of production, supply and price data. Egg prices should come down within the next two weeks, they said.

Reasonable profit is normal, the minister said, but there is no room for destabilising the market through excess profit, artificial shortages or blocking supply. To keep prices stable year-round, he said, the gap between producer and consumer prices must be examined to find where abnormal costs or margins are added.

Promising to consider the proposals seriously, he said the government's aim is a fair price for producers, a reasonable profit for traders and affordable eggs for consumers. Commerce secretary Md Ataur Rahman Khan, Kazi Farms director Kazi Zisan Hasan, Breeders Association president Mahbubur Rahman and Feed Industries Association's Moshiur Rahman were among those present.

Photo: Rüdiger Wölk / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)

Source: The Daily Observer