January 3, 2008

 

India's branded egg prices surge by 75 percent on growing demand

 

 

India's branded eggs are gaining currency, as supply shortage led to prices rising by 75 percent in the last two years, industry officials reported. 

 

Vinod Kapoor of Keggfarms who pioneered the branded egg concept in India said that there is high potential in the branded egg market.

 

The prices of branded eggs have shot up to INR70 (US$1.78) per dozen from INR40 (US$1) a dozen during the last two years, Kapoor said.

 

The National Egg Coordination Committee chairman of the northern region, Harish Juneja, agreed the branded egg concept is slowly growing and promises good future. 

 

However, the costs of packaging and commission are too high to reduce the retail price of branded eggs, Juneja pointed. 

 

Meanwhile, Kapoor said he had developed a business model, which focuses solely on rural India. In this model, Keggfarms sells chicks to mother units in 11 states, mostly in eastern India, from where vendors take 2-3 months old chickens and sell to villagers, who were earlier rearing desi or local birds. 

 

Keggfarms recently distributed 470 chicks in a village, 60 kilometre off Gurgaon, to all households on a pilot project to acquaint the villagers with the advantages of rearing the 'Kurolier', a term coined by Kapoor for his chicken.