Increased demand make eggs costlier, now as costly as chicken
Including eggs in your diet may now cost you almost as much as purchasing a full chicken. Reports have come in that if we consider the average weight of eggs, then per kilo rate would work out to almost that of the price of a chicken.
If we consider that the weight of an average egg is 55 grams, then the per Kg rate works out to be close to that of dressed chicken.
“The poor who cannot afford vegetables, which are available at exorbitant prices in retail, are preferring eggs in their diet,” one of poultry farmer has been quoted as saying in the report. According to him, this has pushed up the demand for eggs.
Over the last six months, farm-gate prices of eggs in Pune have risen from Rs 375 to Rs 585 per 100 pieces, even as the rates for live broiler birds have crashed from Rs 90 to under Rs 60 per kg.
Manufacturers of egg products said higher prices at this time of the year is common, but added that it was abnormally high this time. “Egg prices usually rise at this time due to winter demand, while broiler rates fall because supply goes up with the birds taking less time to reach slaughter weight,”an egg products manufacturer was quoted as saying. “But we have never seen this kind of price spiral in eggs before.”
Considering that egg production isn’t going to recover as fast as broiler, consumers may have to wait for a few weeks for prices to ease. In the meantime, it might be better for them to have chicken.
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