E-Paper
Dearer Punjabi egg in your frying pan!
DO YOU know you are eating dearer Punjab eggs as 75 per cent city poultries have closed down after the bird flu scare in April? But, what?s more shocking is that about 50 small poultry owners on the outskirts have gone bankrupt.
DO YOU know you are eating dearer Punjab eggs as 75 per cent city poultries have closed down after the bird flu scare in April?
But, what’s more shocking is that about 50 small poultry owners on the outskirts have gone bankrupt.
The bird flu scare in April this year and the consequent losses in their business took a heavy toll on profit margins resulting in closure of their farms during the next seven months of the worst-ever bird flu scare in several parts of the country.
As Maharashtra ordered culling of millions of birds in several districts during the outbreak of bird flu, local poultries struggled in vain to arrange for finances from local financial institutions to stay afloat but in vain.
“About 75 per cent of the poultry farms around the city are currently closed. It is also not known what the farmers who once ran successful businesses are doing right now after they winded up their businesses”, President of UP Poultry Farmers’ Association Devesh Rastogi told HT Lucknow Live.
He said the poultries had the total capacity of delivering 1 lakh eggs per day before the bird flu scare started in the country. In the post-April scenario, the total capacity of the poultries started declining from 36,000 eggs last month to 20,000 per day at present.
The winters signify the hike in prices of eggs anywhere in the country. The wholesalers in the poultries business are currently getting their consignments of eggs from states such as Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh as there aren’t many poultry farms left around to supply eggs in the local market.
“The egg consumption in the city is around 20,000 to 25,000 per day and the demand is rising, Rastogi said.
“There are about seven big poultries left around in the city. However, a larger share of eggs is still coming from northern markets such as Punjab and Haryana to Uttar Pradesh, said Aamir Ali of A K Eggs Store.
He said a crate of 210 eggs, which cost Rs 290 last month in the wholesale market, is now costing Rs 427. The retail prices of a dozen eggs in the month of October was Rs 18 which had now doubled to Rs 26 as supplies have become a problem.
The eggs aren’t cheaper in Punjab either as the wholesale price in that market is pegged at around Rs 412 for a crate of 210 eggs, he added.
