Egg prices shot up to Tk 125-135 a dozen marking a 17-per cent hike in a week, raising consumer woes further amid the skyrocketing rates of other kitchen items.
Commodities like super palm, brinjal, local bean, ginger and garlic also have posted an upward trend in price the past seven days.
Brown farm egg retailed at Tk 42-45 per four pieces and Tk 125-135 a dozen. It was Tk 36-40 and Tk 110-115 respectively a week ago at different city groceries.
The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has recorded a 17-per cent hike in egg prices on average in a week.
Jewel Rana, manager of Bismillah Store at West Dhanmondi, told the FE that prices have been increasing for the past five days.
Traders supplied brown eggs at Tk 1,050 per 100 pieces two days back, which was Tk 900-920 earlier, he said.
Mamun Khan, a Tejgaon-based trader, said prices have started to increase at farm level, thus reflecting on the Tejgaon wholesale market in the metropolis.
"We are sourcing eggs at Tk 10 apiece from distant districts, which were hardly Tk 8.8 a week back," according to Mr Khan.
Bangladesh Egg Producers Association president Taher Ahmed Siddiqi said demand for eggs has increased this winter, although production has become stagnant.
Many farms, which were forced to shut their operations during the pandemic-induced lockdown, are still out of production, he told the FE.
Production costs have risen by 70-80 per cent in one and a half years amid a tectonic surge in feed prices, discouraging many to do trading amid risk of losses.
Mr Siddiqi said the minimum cost of 1.0 kilogram of poultry feed increased to Tk 62, which was hardly Tk 35 a year ago.
He said farmers could hardly make any profit in this crucial juncture as minimum production costs
have increased to Tk 9.5 apiece.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh vice-president SM Nazer Hossain said consumers in Bangladesh have been in a hard condition amid record inflation in the last one and half years.
Farm egg, broiler chicken and cultured fish are key protein sources for millions of poor in the country, he mentioned.
Prices of all such products have increased forcing a vast population to cut their protein and another nutrition-rich food intake, cited Mr Hossain.
He suggested that the government minimise animal and poultry feed prices to help cut production costs.
"And the market should regularly be monitored to prevent any sort of manipulation," he said.
Egg prices in the country started spiralling upwards from August last year when it reached an all-time high of Tk 160-180 a dozen.
The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection conducted routine raids on establishments involved in egg trade countrywide from the second week of August 2022 which helped arrest the price.
The TCB disclosed that the price hovered between Tk 110 and Tk 120 a dozen from October 2022 to 07 January 2023.
According to producers, the daily demand for eggs in the country is 40-million pieces.
Data available with the Department of Livestock Services said Bangladesh produced 23.40-billion pieces of eggs in fiscal year 2022.
However, brinjal price rose by Tk 10-15 a kg as sold at Tk 50-70 and country bean price by Tk 10 a kg and sold at Tk 50-60 on Thursday.
Ginger and garlic prices have also witnessed a further Tk 20-30 price hike per kilo in a week.
