July 20, 2010

India slashes poultry product rates

Broiler producers and shell egg traders in Tamil Nadu have slashed farm-gate prices of their produce on account of the austere month of Aadi on July 17 when the consumption of poultry products declines.

According to reports, to save the poultry farms from possible accumulation of stocks, the Palladam-based Broiler Coordination Committee has chosen to bring down the wholesale price of live-birds to Rs46 a kg from Rs52 last week.

In the case of shell eggs, the Namakkal-based National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has cut the wholesale rate by 10 paise to Rs2.55 a piece. However, sources in the industry told Business Line that the reduction is also partly to pep up the consumption.

NECC's layer rates (for birds of 1.3 kg) have come down this week to Rs46 from Rs50 a kg last week. Namakkal and Palladam prices are the benchmarks for eggs and chicken respectively in the country.

On the export front, shell egg exports for the month of June from Namakkal stand at 363.69 lakh eggs as against at 562.06 in the same period last year.

"This is mainly because of the rising domestic prices that we are losing our competitiveness in the global market to our rival countries in the trade, such as Brazil," said an NECC source.