Strict action will follow any attempt to push up egg and chicken prices through manipulation, the director general of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, Md Zahirul Islam, has said. Poultry entrepreneurs, however, say the rise came from a fall in egg production during the extreme heat, and that prices could come down within two weeks once conditions return to normal.

The exchange took place on Wednesday at a consultation meeting at the directorate's Karwan Bazar office in Dhaka on keeping the supply of eggs and poultry products steady and their prices stable. The Bangladesh Poultry Association, wholesale and retail traders, the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) and representatives of several government offices attended.

Zahirul Islam said egg prices must be kept at a reasonable and tolerable level, and that legal action would follow if proper purchase and sale receipts were not kept at every stage of production and supply. Responding to complaints about feed quality, he said samples would be collected from the market and tested. He also stressed a collective effort to keep smallholder farms in business.

Dr Shafiqul Islam, publicity secretary of the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA), said egg output had fallen in the excessive heat, lifting prices. But he warned that smallholder farms keep closing one after another because egg prices at other times fall below the cost of production.

The bigger cost pressure is feed. Anwarul Haque, general secretary of the Bangladesh Feed Industries Association, said about 70 per cent of poultry feed is import-dependent and feed prices have risen. Feed bought at the higher price could reach the market in December, which may push egg and chicken prices up again.

CAB organising secretary Abul Kalam Azad said the balance between production cost and market price must be weighed alongside the consumer's interest. On allegations of syndication, Kazi Farms representative Sultan Mahmud and Paragon Group representative Tanbir Rahat said production is so varied and multi-layered that no single group can control the market.

Source: Samakal (staff correspondent)