The country is set to become self-sufficient in eggs before the end of the year, All Island Egg Producers’ Association Chairman R.M. Sarath Attanayake said yesterday.
He highlighted the positive recovery of the poultry industry, indicating a significant comeback of former players who had left the industry.
“The majority of those who left the industry have returned to the business with the government moving to issue a gazette extraordinary lifting the maximum retail price (MRP) imposed on eggs,” he said.
The Consumer Affairs Authority in April fixed a price ceiling for the sale of eggs, which set the MRP of a white egg at Rs 44 and a brown egg at Rs. 46.
He said that no sooner than the government rescinded the MRP imposed on eggs, the prices dropped significantly, and the supply and availability of eggs are also increasing rapidly in the markets.
“An egg sold between Rs 60 to Rs. 70 by some errant traders, who hoarded them to sell at higher prices, have dropped to between Rs. 50 to Rs. 55 after rescinding the MRP,” he said. Attanayake said that the eggs imported from India, intended to be sold at Rs. 35 through Lanka Sathosa establishments, would only cater to the country’s egg demand for a mere nine days. He stressed that achieving lower egg prices required support from the Trade, Commerce, and Food Security Minister, Nalin Fernando. The major challenge faced by local egg producers is the high cost of poultry feed. While they were selling eggs at much lower prices in the past (Rs. 10 to Rs. 15), the cost of a kilo of poultry feed has skyrocketed from Rs. 65 to Rs. 240, with a slight reduction to Rs. 220 recently.
“When we sold eggs at Rs 10 and Rs. 15, a kilo of poultry feed was Rs. 65. The dealers now sell it at Rs 220. We would be happy to present our problems regarding the production costs that go into this trade with facts, figures, and invoices to the Minister,” he said.
“The animal feed we manufacture locally using shovels includes labour costs. A kilo of broken rice feed has also increased from Rs.70 to Rs. 130.”