While eggs are getting dearer, the price of the protein item in Bangladesh was still way lower than in India and Sri Lanka last month.
Financial crisis-hit Pakistan sold eggs at the same price as in Bangladesh in July, according to GlobalProductPrices.com, a website that tracks the retail prices of a wide range of goods, services and global brands across countries.
A dozen eggs are sold for Tk150 or $1.37 in Bangladesh–as of late July. However, prices further soared this month, currently going up to Tk180.
The website says Pakistanis, too, were charged $1.37 for 12 pieces of eggs last month, when India and Sri Lanka saw eggs being sold at $1.62 and $2.03.
Switzerland topped the list of 81 countries with a dozen eggs selling for $6.94 and Russia charging the lowest price of $1.09.
Government concerned
With the record-breaking prices beginning to surface in late July, the government recently warned that it would import eggs.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on August 13 said the import of eggs will be allowed in coordination with the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock if their prices do not come under control.
If the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock sets the prices of eggs, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) will monitor it through drives. “The DNCRP is conducting raids in different areas of the capital day and night as egg prices remain unstable,” Tipu Munshi said.
It is not up to the commerce ministry to make a decision on egg imports, the minister said.
“Permission from the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock is necessary. There is no scope to import eggs without their cooperation. I hope that a decision will be made very soon.”
Amid the ongoing chaos in the egg market, the Rapid Action Battalion through a mobile court recently fined 34 businesses Tk14,25,000 in the capital for selling eggs and other essential commodities at higher prices.
About 35-40 million eggs are required daily to meet the national demand, according to the Bangladesh Egg Producers Association.
In 2021, the price of farmed chicken eggs was Tk80-85 per dozen and Tk115-120 earlier this year.
The production of eggs more than doubled in the country in the last 10 years, says the government data.
In the 2022-23 fiscal, 2.3 billion eggs were produced – 30 million more than those recorded in the previous fiscal year.
Eggs or broiler chicken?
The prices of a dozen eggs and one kilogramme of broiler chicken in the capital were the same earlier this week.
Retailers sold chicken at a maximum of Tk180 while the highest price for 12 pieces of eggs was exactly the same, according to the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh saw a similar crisis in the egg market during this period last year.
A short-term supply interruption, due to the unavailability of trucks, was behind the increase in egg prices then, industry insiders said.
But once trucks became available again, egg transport resumed, and the prices fell.
Initially, corporate poultry companies were blamed for the egg price hike, but that was not precisely the case.
A market leader’s take
Kazi Zahin Hasan, president of the Breeders Association of Bangladesh and a director of Kazi Farms Limited, said the price of eggs goes up whenever supply is reduced for any reason, and there are many possible reasons.
“First, in hot weather, hens eat less feed and lay fewer eggs. So, it is not unusual for egg production to fall in summer, and for egg prices to go up. Second, farmers may have difficulty transporting eggs to the market during rainy weather,” he said.
“Third, the main raw material used in poultry feed is maize. Since April, the local maize price has risen from Tk26/kg to Tk31.50/kg currently, an increase of 21%. When feed prices go up, farmers will produce at a higher cost, and must either sell at a higher price, or shut down,” Zahin said.
“Fourth, over the past year some large poultry companies have shut down due to continuous losses caused initially by Covid and later the increasing cost of feed. Feed raw materials became more expensive because of the Ukraine war and also because of the depreciation of the taka against the dollar. A reduction of supply for all these reasons created a shortage and increased prices in the egg market.”
