Eggs set to cross 115/tray

NEW DELHI: EGG prices, already ruling at Rs 105 a tray, are expected breach the Rs 115 barrier by January, weighing on home budgets already reeling under the impact of pricey milk, onions and tomatoes.

“At that price, it could mean that eggs in the retail point will be priced at close to Rs 5 a piece,” wholesale trader Mohit Kumar of Mohit Eggs in Ghaziabad maintained.

“Prices for both poultry feed including maize as well as medicines have shot up. Farms are now agitating to determine their own price for their produce,” he said. Sale of eggs, however, would not be impacted despite the high price, traders contend.

Egg prices hit Rs 100 a tray (30 pieces) for the first ever time last year, when food inflation peaked. Coming on the heels of a sharp hike in the price of pulses, this was viewed with dismay since poultry is seen as a mainstay in rural areas. In the absence of high-priced pulses in the diet, eggs were viewed as a very accessible source of protein across economic groups.

The price of onions and garlic, meanwhile, refused to drop significantly despite assertions of this by the government.

NAFED said it had begun selling onions at its outlets at Rs 25 a kg while Mother Dairy, through its over 200 outlets, is understood to be selling the tuber at Rs 45. In the open market, however, onions are by and large still priced at a high Rs 60, as are tomatoes. “By contending that onion prices have plummetted noticeably enough not to import, NAFED, despite being the biggest agency for intervening on onion prices, wants to ensure that onion prices remain at a high level,” a sectoral analyst maintained.
Farmers in food minister Sharad Pawar’s homestate Maharashtra, the biggest producer of the tuber, have been agitating over the “steep” drop in wholesale onion prices from Rs 80 a kg. Wholesale rates in prominent onion market yards at Lasalgaon and Pimpalgain in Nashik, however, even witnessed a hike in wholesale prices. There was a rise in wholesale rates of onion in Lasalgaon which sold at Rs 47 a kg from Rs 35/kg on Saturday, accordign to reports. Garlic, meanwhile continued to retail at Rs 250-300/kg in the key metros.

The high price for onions persists despite a ban on exports and zero import duty besides askign state governments to crack down on onion hoarders. High level meeting of a group of secretaries, under the aegis of the Cabinet Secretary, has been meeting to ensure, besides, that railway rakes are made available for rushing onions to metros where the tuber is at its costliest.