Egg prices seen to increase due to bird flu threat, pricy feeds

Suppliers have advised vendors that prices of eggs will increase due to the threat of bird flu and costly feeds, according to a report of Susan Enriquez on GMA News’ Unang Balita on Wednesday.

Currently, the prices of eggs range from P7.00 to P8.00 at Balintawak Market in Quezon City.

A vendor said that suppliers will increase the price of eggs by P6.00 per tray on Thursday. According to him, this will increase the price of eggs by P0.50 each in the market.

He added that suppliers increase the egg prices every three to four days.

Suppliers said egg prices increased because they only have a limited number of laying hens as some of them are getting sick. Aside from this, the cost of feed has also increased.

According to the vendor, some of his customers who are buying a tray of eggs are now only taking 10 pieces of eggs due to the high price.

One of his customers said she can now only buy five pieces of eggs when going to the market.

She said her family is now consuming eggs only once a week and she only serves them to her younger children.

According to her, she used to sell hard boiled eggs but stopped due to the price increase.

Increase production

In an interview, Department of Agriculture (DA) Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista said they are convincing producers to increase production citing the high demand for eggs.

“Patuloy po kaming nakikipag-ugnayan sa ating mga producers para dagdagan po nila kasi ang nakuha po naming balita ay meron tayong mga ibang producers na nagbawas ng kanilang production,” she said.

(We are continuously coordinating with our producers to increase their production because we received information that some of them have reduced their production.)

According to her, many egg producers were discouraged to operate in full capacity due to the threat of bird flu.

She added that the Bureau of Animal Industry and DA’s office in Calabarzon are already in talks with the producers to increase their production especially with the resumption of classes this academic year.

Evangelista said the DA will also coordinate with the market master and the Quezon City government to let some cooperatives supply their eggs.

The BAI will also help producers by providing agricultural inputs amid the high prices of feeds, she added. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News