City's egg consumption goes up: 20 lakh a day

Fri, Nov 6 05:38 AM

With winter setting in, egg consumption in Pune has increased to 20 lakh eggs a day with around six lakh eggs a day coming from the Southern markets alone — most notably Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and Hospet in Karnataka. The supply of eggs from the South has increased by over 4 lakh over the last two years and is likely to go further up.

"While there is a 10 per cent increase in demand every year, consumption has also increased greatly this year because of winter," said Raju Bhosale, vice chairman, National Egg Coordination Committee. Bhosale said that it was likely to increase further in the coming weeks. "We expect the demand to go up to 25 lakh in the coming weeks," Bhosale added.

The city and surrounding areas is producing around 14 lakh egg, the rest of it comes from the South, Bhosale said. In 2007, the supply of eggs from the South was only around two lakh; it has increased to around four lakh in 2008 and is now around six lakh. "Now, we are receiving around six lakh eggs a day, but it will definitely increase around next month," Bhosale said.

The demand for eggs could also be met with supplies from the Mumbai market, which receives around 40 lakh eggs a day from the South, traders said.

According to the traders, one of the reasons for the rise in demand is the high food prices this year. "Prices of almost every item, from vegetables, pulses and cereals, have increased compelling people to opt for eggs as well," said a wholesale egg trader.

But the cost of each egg, now priced at Rs 2.86, is also expected to rise, in the coming weeks, Bhosale said. "It is likely to touch Rs 3 per egg. The prices of soya and maize — the primary poultry feed — have increased since last year. Soya price has increased by more than Rs 10 a kg, while maize has registered a Rs 2 increase since last year. Poultry farmers have had to raise prices to keep their business alive," he said.

Around October last year, it was about Rs 2.19 per egg while this year the average is around Rs 2.52 in October. But the prevailing rate on Thursday was Rs 2.86 per egg.

A number of companies have come up in the past two years that are now supplementing eggs with additional proteins and selling them in packs. While these eggs are slightly more expensive than loose ones, traders feel that they may have played a role in reining in the occasional egg consumer leading to increased consumption this year.

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