According to The Hindu Business Line, the NECC had been trimming prices since the beginning of this month to encourage domestic consumption and normalise an overflow of stock resulting from a ban imposed by Oman on the import of Indian poultry products. Oman imports one-third of India's poultry exports.

The industry had resorted to slashing price to avoid building up inventories during summer. This, in turn, has boosted the domestic offtake. Namakkal accounts for nearly 95 per cent of India's egg exports.

According to Mr P. Selvaraj, Chairman of the NECC's Namakkal zone, the drop in egg prices this summer was expected and it was effected to put prices in line with those in other NECC zones across the country. This is because consumption tends to sag as the temperature rises.

“Moreover, we wanted to clear the backlog of this persihable produce. Now that schools are also on vacation, there is no chance for us to supply to the noon-meal programme (that procures around 70 lakh eggs). Hence, we slashed the rates to lift consumption,” he said.

Consumption in Tamil Nadu and other States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Kerala — major markets for Tamil Nadu's shell egg and broiler trade — has started to pick up with the holiday season and increased tourist inflow.

Meanwhile, the price of layer birds ruled flat at Rs 35/kg and that of cull birds at Rs 58/kg.