According to The Hindu Business Line, faced with buyer resistance and to perk up poultry consumption, the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), Namakkal zone, has slashed the price of an egg by 13 paise to Rs 3.20.

The commodity hit a record Rs 3.33 on rise in demand following the onset of South-West monsoon. From 26 May to 28 June, the wholesale price was raised 15 times from Rs 2.75 to Rs 3.33 (an overall increase of about 20 per cent).

Industry sources attributed the price cut to buyer resistance. “We see a lag in the offtake owing to higher prices at retail level and we don't want to pile up these perishable products. Hence, we have trimmed prices to perk up consumption,” a source said.

Mr P. Selvaraj, Zonal Chairman, NECC, Tamil Nadu, said that a host of factors such as rise in consumption, spiralling input costs, pricey vegetables, ban on fishing in the neighbouring Kerala & Karnataka (major markets for TN's poultry trade) pushed egg prices up.

“Prices are likely to remain at the same level in the coming days to boost offtake,” he added.

“Of our average production of 2.75 crore eggs, we used to send 30 lakh eggs to Kerala. It has almost doubled owing to a fishing ban in that State,” said a poultry-unit owner in Namakkal.

On the export front, the industry is pinning hopes on neighbouring Bangladesh that has opened its gates to poultry imports to meet Ramadan demand. Exports plummeted to a 10-year low of 240.88 lakh eggs in May against 330.62 lakh eggs last May.

Prices of layer birds have been trimmed to Rs 44/kg (Rs 48), while the Broiler Coordination Committee has slashed chicken prices to Rs 55/kg (Rs 60). Broiler prices touched a record Rs 76/kg a fortnight ago.