Egg prices have collapsed in Rajshahi. Farmers are having to sell eggs Tk 3 to 4 cheaper each, and over the past two weeks the price has fallen to Tk 8, while producing an egg costs Tk 9.91. On that basis farmers are currently losing Tk 2 on every egg.

Meanwhile, although broilers sell at Tk 165 a kg in the market, the farm-gate price is Tk 130 to 135, so farmers are losing Tk 10 to 15 on chicken.

This emerged from talks with wholesale and retail egg sellers at Shaheb Bazar, New Market and the Laxmipur kitchen market on Friday (26 August).

Farmers say a hali (four) of layer eggs sold for Tk 24 to 25 during the pandemic. Now there is no coronavirus and no restrictions, but there is an invisible syndicate, they say.

Rezaul Islam Mithu, a wholesale egg seller at the Kalapatti in Shaheb Bazar, said egg prices have fallen sharply and farmers are selling at a loss. "You can't just sell off your chickens or quit the business when you want to," he said. A hundred brown eggs sell wholesale at Tk 850 and white at Tk 800; the buying price is Tk 820 for brown and Tk 770 for white.

Wholesale and retail traders said that in normal times brown eggs sell at Tk 36 a hali and white at Tk 34 a hali, so each hali is now Tk 10 to 11 short of before, leaving farmers in despair.

Wholesaler Md Abdul Jalil Mia said egg prices should rise. "If it goes on like this, farmers won't survive. They are spending Tk 10 on each egg and selling it for Tk 8," he said.

Rubel Haque, a layer farmer in the Chandrima area of the city, said falling egg prices are causing losses. "We can't even cover the cost of feed. There is medicine as well as feed, and after all these costs eggs fetch no price," he said. The cost of producing a kg of broiler has risen to Tk 145.65, but egg and chicken prices have not risen with it, he said.

Enamul Haque, general secretary of the Rajshahi Poultry Association, said it is hard to be precise because eggs count as a perishable commodity, but egg prices are low now while the price of maize, the main ingredient of poultry feed, has risen. Soybean meal has gone from Tk 37 to Tk 70, rice bran from Tk 21 to Tk 36, and poultry meal has jumped from Tk 54 to Tk 80.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.