A village egg producer can now find the trader who will pay most, and a city trader can find the supplier willing to sell cheapest. With mobile phones and the internet widespread, thousands of egg producers and traders are able to compare prices across different areas.

Dr Sabbir Hossain, a 28-year-old veterinarian and farmer in Haripur village of Ghatail, Tangail, keeps 3,500 layer hens. "I know the price of eggs everywhere in the country. The aratdars who buy from us cannot set the price, and neither can we," he said. He made a profit selling eggs at Tk 11 each on 17 September, but lost money in many months of the year selling cheaper. Nazrul Islam, a small farmer in Madhupur, said a phone with internet let him check market rates at any time.

Jahangir Khan, who runs an egg depot at Pakutia in Ghatail, buys about 20,000 eggs a day from farmers and small traders and sells them to wholesalers in Moulvibazar and Dhaka. Each morning he checks prices by mobile phone and internet, then calls farmers to offer a price. Keramat Ali Khan of Porabari buys in Tangail and Jamalpur and sends about 100,000 eggs a day to Kaptan Bazar in Dhaka.

According to people in the trade, about 2 million eggs change hands a day at Tejgaon in Dhaka, a small share of the roughly 15 million eggs sold daily in the capital, and about 50 million eggs a day are produced commercially nationwide. At Ashulia, Kazi Farms sells about 700,000 eggs a day through an auction run on bids placed in a mobile app: buyers state price and quantity each morning, and all winning buyers pay the single highest price at which the whole stock clears.

Kazi Farms director Kazi Zahin Hasan said demand now exceeds supply, so auction prices are higher than a few months ago; but in February, with supply ahead of demand, the price fell to Tk 7.43 an egg, and producers lost money for about five months this year. Amanat Ullah, a leader of the Egg Traders Multipurpose Samity, said: "Prices depend on supply and demand."

People in the sector blame the recent rise on lower output in the hot months. With prices low for a long stretch from January to May, many small farmers sold their hens and shut their farms to avoid losses. Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data show daily egg consumption per person rose from 5.2 grams to 12.73 grams between 2005 and 2022, and chicken and duck meat from 6.8 grams to 26.17 grams.

Reported by an Ittefaq staff correspondent.

Source: Ittefaq