Egg prices jump on winter demand, high feed cost and exports to Malaysia

Traders see feed costs continuing to drive egg prices even in summer, when demand usually tapers

Egg prices in most markets of the country till last week rose by over 34 per cent since October 1 before cooling slightly.
 
This is mainly due to strong winter demand, rise in feed costs, and a sudden spurt in exports to Malaysia, said traders and other market sources.
 
Traders are of the view that feed costs will continue to drive egg prices, which reduce in summer.
 
“Prices will remain firm till February because demand is good due to the opening up of the Malaysian export markets while feed costs are also high,” said Rickey Thaper, treasurer of the Poultry Federation of India.
 
Trade sources said Malaysia had ordered 50 million eggs since January 1.
 
India exports eggs mainly to Oman and Saudi Arabia, but Malaysia has emerged as a new destination due to a domestic shortage there. The shortage of eggs there, according to news reports, is because of small producers cutting output owing to high feed costs.

 
Globally, too, there is shortage of eggs because the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has curtailed supplies in many countries, pressuring the already high food prices and triggering trade restrictions from countries that import poultry, news agency Reuters reported few weeks ago.
 
The report said imports from India had helped Malaysia bring prices down from the record highs in late December.
 
Having suffered a shortfall of 157 million eggs in November, the market gap was down to just one million in December in Malaysia, Reuters said, quoting a statement from the Malaysian Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Mohamad Sabu.
 
However, domestically, several players said the Malaysian order was just one factor behind the surge in prices and a more dominant one was the rise in feed meal rates, which made egg production costly.
 
Sanjeev Chintawar of the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) said India produced around 2,100 million eggs a week. Of these, around 10 million are being exported to Malaysia (in the order placed for 50 million).
 
“This demand will hardly make any difference to prices. The more dominant reason in terms of my understanding is the spike in feed meal rates,” Chintawar told Business Standard.
 
He said maize and soymeal were the two most dominant constituents of poultry feed in India and the prices of both shot up in the past few years.
 
“Before the pandemic, the feed cost per egg was around Rs 2.40, which has now risen to almost Rs 4.50, a jump of almost 88 per cent in less than four years,” Chintawar said.
 
According to a presentation made by the Poultry Federation of India some time ago, the layer-bird population in India in 2025-26 is projected at 327 million and broilers 5,344 million, which would require 33.73 million tonnes of feed (16.86 million tonnes of maize and 8.4 million tonnes of soybean meal).