January 3, 2011

Indian poultry sector eyeing Sri Lanka for egg exports

The Indian poultry industry is now setting its sights on neighbouring Sri Lanka, after benefiting from high egg prices in the domestic market.

P. Selvaraj, Chairman, National Egg Coordination Committee (Namakkal Zone), said that, "We started test supplying eggs and day-old chicks in mid-December. So far we have exported four containers to Sri Lanka."

"Despite the announcement of the lifting of bans on Indian poultry products by Oman, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, there is not much happening on the export front. And hence the trade is exploring newer territories," sources said.

Egg exports have been affected badly in the last two years mainly due to incidences of bird flu in the eastern parts of the country. In June, the Centre declared the country free of bird flu.

Buyers are usually required to wait for six months after such declarations before they can start purchases, but this has been delayed.

According to the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), exports during April-August in the current fiscal year have dropped to an average of 43 million eggs a month, down from 87 million eggs a month last year. Currently, exports to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan are nearly 150 containers (1 container - 475,000 eggs) a month.

Earlier this month, Sri Lanka decided to import up to 2,000 tonnes of chicken from India to meet shortages ahead of the Christmas holiday season. Sri Lanka produces about 9,800 tonnes a month but there is a demand-supply gap of a million one-day old chicks and the Indian trade hopes to cash in on this mismatch.

On the domestic front, NECC has decided to hike egg prices to INR2.86 (US$0.064) a piece. This is INR0.20 (US$0.004) more than last week's level. With torrential rains lashing the North, egg prices are set to rise further in the coming days. Reduction in production has also sent the egg prices moving up across the country.

But Palladam-based Broiler Co-ordination Committee, owing to overproduction and a glut-like situation, has slashed the rates of cull birds by INR8/kg (US$0.179) to INR47 (US$1.051).

NECC's layer rates have also been slashed this week to INR32 (US$0.716).