December 3, 2009
Can India's NECC stop rampaging soy and corn prices?
The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has demanded that soy and corn be brought under the Essential Commodities Act. This would help check prices of these commodities.
According to the national apex body of poultry farmers, soy and corn are the most crucial ingredients of poultry feed. But hoarding and speculation by the traders has led to abrupt rise in the prices of these commodities. Currently, soya meal prices are ruling at Rs 21,000-23,000 a tonne from Rs 10,000-12,000 a couple of months ago. Similarly, the price of maize has gone up to Rs 1,000 a quintal from Rs 600-650 a year ago.
"This unprecedented and unjustified increase has happened due to forward trading in maize, speculation and hoar ding by traders and multinational companies and also exports," NECC said in a statement. According to Anuradha Desai, chairperson of NECC, the break-even level for egg production has gone up from Rs 0.90-1.00 to Rs 2.25 an egg, whereas that of broilers has increased to Rs 47-48 from Rs 27-28 per kg.
Many of the poultry farm owners are running short of working capital due to the losses incurred by them in the last two years. This has resulted in the closure of around 15 per cent of the industry, consisting mainly of small and marginal farmers.
