Egg prices to come down by Rs.5 from Monday: Poultry Assn.

Following a meeting with the Cost of Living Committee and the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), the All Island Poultry Association of Sri Lanka (AIPASL) has decided to reduce the price of an egg by Rs.5 from Monday (22).

Accordingly, the price of a red egg will be sold for Rs.55 from Rs.61 and the price of a white egg, which is currently at Rs.60, will be sold at Rs.55.

Another official from the association said that with the increase in the egg prices in the local market, the Cost of Living Committee, CAA, and several other officials, including the Poultry Association, called for the discussion.

During the discussion, the CAA announced that it would impose a control price for eggs. The Poultry Association explains as to why the egg price in the market is high at present, he said.

The Poultry Association had explained the exorbitant cost that they had to bear to produce an egg. The market price of grain, which is used to feed hens, vitamins, and medicines have increased by 300%.

"60% of the poultry farms have already pulled their shutters down due to the unbearable cost of poultry feed. The remainder of farms too will close down due to the increase in the cost of materials for egg production," the AIPASL said.

The government did not provide any support to import the required maize as poultry feed. But owing to the present crisis, the government would no longer imports them, they said.

With the inability to open Letters of Credit (LC) to import chicks, we are unable to continue with the poultry production cycle. They said a hen lays 320 eggs over nearly two years with the volume of animal feed, vitamins, and medicines.

With this current unstable economic situation, we are unable to maintain that target. The association said most of the poultry farms had to be closed.

"If this situation continues till the end of this year, the price of an egg in the local market will go up to Rs. 75, where people will be unable to afford it and the government will have to import eggs to meet the local demand," they said. (Chaturanga Samarawickama)