CAA should have given one week notice before reducing egg prices

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama  

The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) should have given at least a week to bring down the selling price of eggs in the market before issuing a gazette notification imposing a maximum retail price for eggs, the All Ceylon Egg Producers Association (ACEPA) said.  

ACEPA President, Sarath Ratnayake, stated that the association was in the process of selling an egg at Rs.46 beginning Monday, further lowering the price by Rs.3.

Issuing a gazette notification announcing the maximum retail price of eggs will incur a huge loss to the industry. Most of the producers and retailers have decided to get out of the industry.  
“It is illegal to impose a gazette notification on a perishable item immediately. The gazette will have no effect on middle- and large-scale egg producers and sellers, but it will have an impact on rural farmers,” Ratnayake said.    With the previous gazette notification, poultry farmers in rural areas used to sell their parent chickens for meat, and the remaining farmers will do the same, he said.