Traders see egg price soaring in winter

Attribute expected hike to seasonal spike in demand

RAWALPINDI:

Due to an imbalance between supply and demand, the poultry farmers have anticipated the price of eggs to reach up to Rs200 during the winter season.

Demand for eggs soars in winters and ebbs in summers owing to diet preferences of people and culinary culture. “People believe eggs are ‘hot’ and eating eggs will give warm energy, therefore the locals eat more eggs in winters than in summers,” said Arshad Naseem a wholesale egg dealer at Nankari Bazaar.

They said that the coronavirus lockdown had effected the poultry industry and a shortage of egg supply was expected between December and January.

Sources in the poultry market told The Express Tribune that the coronavirus had impacted the poultry industry and decline in eggs’ demand due to closure of wedding halls and limited supply to hotels, bringing the industry on the verge of a crash.

The poultry farms have resumed farming boiler chickens now as the situation has normalised but it would take some three to four months for them to grow up and lay eggs.

The disproportion between the demand and supply of eggs would continue from December to January. Due to this, it added that the price of the poultry product per dozen is expected to shoot up to Rs200 during winters.

Sources said that the industry would return to normal in the given time only if the overall condition of the country remained normal amid coronavirus threat.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2020.