Exorbitant Eggs Now a luxury in many a Sri Lankan home

The Cabinet of Ministers yesterday granted approval to import eggs to control the local market price. Trade Minister Nalin Fernando submitted the proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers following several suggestions from industry stakeholders to import eggs as a temporary measure to control skyrocketing prices.  

Around August last year, eggs took an unexpected toll on the nation’s everyday consumers as a result of less imported animal feed being supplied to the poultry industry. The costs of basic necessities regularly catch people off guard. With the cost of fish recently causing concern for many households, consumers today lack nutritious options, and are just perplexed about how to balance their diets.  

Consumers who used to buy a carton of eggs per week for just a few hundred rupees are now returning from the stores, stupefied to see the prices being increased to numbing heights of over Rs.800 per carton! Apart from the general public, bakery owners, restaurants and especially children find this to be a massive challenge as their protein intake has taken a blow from every possible direction.  

Sell eggs according to weight, poultry farmers urge

“Normally the weight of an egg ranges from 35 grams to 65 grams. In Sri Lankan productions, eggs are around 50 to 55 grams in general. Therefore the sale prices of eggs should be set according to kilograms,” the All Island Poultry Farmers’ Association Chairman Ajith Gunasekara opined.  
“We thought about it long-term and are hoping to give an opportunity to sell eggs in kilograms for the consumers. The consumers will be satisfied with their purchases if they buy eggs in kilograms as there are both 35 gram eggs and 65 gram eggs in the market at the moment.”  
The consumers will also benefit by purchasing eggs according to their weight and protein value, Gunasekara added. “This method would benefit the producers as well as they would give their best services in supplying quality eggs that are both healthy and of the best weight. We also have an issue of quality control of eggs and we’ll be discussing it with the department and provide high quality, healthy products to the market in the future that the consumers will be highly satisfied with.  

Fish isn’t helping, so are eggs?

All these have their core issue in the forex shortage and the inability to import animal feed for the poultry farms which resulted in the production of eggs per week to go down. But, compared to the expensive prices of fish, poultry products still seem cheaper.   
Several citizens expressed that with the price of 1 kilogram of Thalapath (Sail fish) itself being priced at exorbitant amounts, they are trying to figure out more diverse protein substitutes for their families and children. So despite their unpredictable prices, buying eggs is still one of the few options many Sri Lankans have. “We tell ourselves that we can live without eggs, but then we realize that it’s still the next best option we have. It feels absurd to buy eggs now. But if we ditch them too, we are clueless on how to put together a balanced meal, so we buy them anyway,” said one citizen from Kelaniya.  
One family from Gonawala remarked that they almost didn’t have enough eggs to bake a cake for their eight-year-old’s birthday. “We might need to find something else to cut on birthdays, because this is not normal,” they said.   

Effect on businesses

Sri Lanka’s bakers and confectionery makers recently demanded government intervention to impose price controls on their suppliers as well.  
A bakery owner from Gampaha pointed out that buying eggs priced at Rs.70 is definitely not profitable when it comes to baking their cakes and pastries. “We are already falling far behind with our products and definitely we can’t continue our business in this manner. It’s almost impossible to buy eggs now,’’ they said. According to the owner, the only reason their business is still standing is their corresponding rice and curry business. “Many other bakery owners we know are already out of business. These prices are getting out of hand.” he added.  

Eggs: A problem in UK and Canada too

Sri Lanka is not the only country facing an issue with egg supplies. Eggs have been hard to find as of late at British supermarkets, with industry warnings that the shortages may last beyond Christmas, the BBC and The Guardian recently reported. Reports said that grocers imposed limits on how many eggs customers can buy to preserve inventory.  
Several factors influenced the egg market in the UK, including the avian flu, supply issues and production costs. It was also reported that the trials have been prompted in part by the current egg shortage and by the longer-term rising cost of eggs. The egg industry has been dealing with ‘unprecedented’ pressures, according to the trade body; The British Egg Industry Council. Soaring costs have caused many egg farmers to cease production rather than face the risk of losing money on every egg they produce, while avian influenza has added to the strain on producers.  

Avian influenza, also called bird flu, is a virus that infects birds. Outbreaks in commercial bird facilities most often occur when migratory birds carrying the disease come into contact with poultry.   
The situation in Canada was similar a few weeks ago, reports indicated, before it was brought under control. Tim Lambert, CEO of Egg Farmers of Canada, in a statement said that Canadian egg production happens across the country, allowing farmers to work together to maintain the domestic supply of eggs.