As demand falls, cost of eggs likely to tumble; mutton rates on the up
NEW DELHI: As fears of the emergence of avian influenza grip the national capital, traders on Sunday said the prices of eggs were set to tumble, while those of mutton would likely increase.
In Delhi, the state government has shut the wholesale poultry market in Ghazipur for 10 days and prohibited the arrival of live birds from other states, starting Sunday, as a preventive measure against potential spread of the bird flu, which has been confirmed in seven states so far — Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, and neighbouring
Uttar Pradesh.
To be sure, no confirmed case has been recorded in Delhi as of Sunday evening.
“The demand for eggs has already gone down over the last four days, after news of the emergence of bird flu [in other states]. Crates of 30 eggs that sold for ₹140 around four days ago are now going for ₹120. The rates can go down further this week if demand does not pick up,” said Rashid Alam, a trader based in Delhi’s Seelampur.
On Sunday, prominent retail markets in the city sold crates for between ₹180 – 200, compared to ₹210 – 220 last week.
“We saw this happening in 2006 when bird flu was reported across several countries, and in 2016 when it was last reported in Delhi. It is about to happen once again. Even though there is no recorded instance of people getting the flu through cooked chicken or eggs, there is largescale fear,” said Iqbal Qureshi, vice-chairperson of Ghazipur wholesale poultry market.
Each time there has been a bird flu scare, Delhi has seen a significant shift in consumption from poultry to mutton and, a concurrent spike in the cost of the latter. Several traders who HT spoke to on Sunday recalled how rumours about poultry contributing to transmission of Covid-19 had hit the market in mid2020, and the retail price of mutton had touched ₹1,100 a kilo in several locations across the city.
Mutton costs anything between ₹530 to ₹580 per kilo in most retail stores in Delhi. “However, the shift from chicken to mutton has already started happening. In the last seven days, demand for mutton has gone up and the price will increase soon, because supply is a problem,” said Shamim Qureshi, a city-based mutton trader.
For poultry and meat consumption, Delhi needs around 350,000 birds, two million eggs and 10,000 goats per day, said traders.
The Capital’s main sources of poultry and meat are Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.