Hamidreza Kashani, Chairman of the Board of the Mihan Poultry Farmers Union, said: based on production and consumption statistics, the country is facing a surplus of at least 15,000 tons of eggs per month.
According to the Food and Agriculture Industry News outlet (AgroFoodNews), quoting the Young Journalists Club, Kashani stated that currently eggs are being sold at poultry farms for 70,000 to 80,000 tomans per kilogram below the cost price.
He added that producers are currently going through extremely difficult conditions. He said they had also informed the government and the Market Regulation Headquarters that over the past 7 to 8 months they have not been able to sell their product even close to the approved price, which harms domestic/national production.
Kashani continued: based on the cost price that they reported to the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad last week, poultry farmers are incurring a loss of 80,000 tomans on the sale of each kilogram of eggs. He noted that the cost price is 257,000 tomans, which they proposed to the ministry, while eggs are sold at the farm gate for 180,000 to 185,000 tomans.
Emphasizing the need for government support purchases of eggs from farmers, the chairman said: over the past four years, Iran has moved from being an importing country to an exporting one; however, sidelining the private sector in market regulation and imposing repeated export bans have caused eggs to be unable to be sold at their cost price in the market. Therefore, the Livestock Affairs Support Company should purchase eggs for its reserves at a reasonable price, and, on the other hand, farmers should be supported by liberalizing exports. He added that provinces make decisions in a fragmented manner—for example, one province allows exports while another imports eggs; one province carries out flock molting while another continues production—so policymaking is not centralized.
He also said that according to statistics, 105,000 tons of eggs were produced in Ordibehesht (late April–late May), while consumption was 90,000 tons, indicating a surplus of at least 15,000 tons. He argued that farmers must be supported through support purchases and exports so that egg prices in the market become balanced. He also noted that some imported raw-material inputs have increased two- to fourfold over the past 40 days.
Kashani stated that a reasonable price for consumers—given the current farm-gate egg price—would be 220,000 tomans per kilogram, equivalent to 440,000 tomans per tray.autorenewthumb_upthumb_down
