December 6, 2010

Indian poultry product prices cut on passive demand

Egg prices in India were slashed for the second time in five days at the farmgate level owing to the start of the Sabarimala pilgrimage season.

The price fixation committee of the Namakkal zone of the National Egg Coordination Committee decided Thursday (Dec 2) to cut the price by 45 paise to INR2.35 (US$0.05) an egg from last week's INR2.82 (US$0.06). The prices touched a record INR2.90 (US$0.07) an egg in the first week of November.

"There are couple of reasons behind the cut in prices. First is that the Sabarimala season has set in and the second is that consumption is witnessing a downtrend. The rise in prices to over INR3.25-3.50 (US$0.07-$0.08) an egg at retail level has led to buyers resistance," said Mr R. Nallathambi, President, Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers' Association.

During the Sabarimala season that is on until January 15, consumption of non-vegetarian food, including egg, is low in the South. Industry sources see the price cut as a move to pep up offtake. An NECC spokesperson said that the resistance to the soaring egg price had led to fears that the inventories would build up. "We cannot pile up the stocks as egg is a perishable commodity," he added.

Meanwhile, chicken prices too have crashed sending jitters to the poultry farmers. Palladam-based Broiler Coordination Committee has decreased the prices of chicken to INR37 (US$0.82) a kg from last week's INR43 (US$0.96), while NECC has reduced the rate of layer birds by INR4 (US$0.09) to INR32 (US$0.71) a kg.

Namakkal and Palladam prices are seen as the benchmarks of egg and chicken, respectively.