A staggering 280 crore taka has been reportedly looted from consumers in a poultry pricing syndicate, as government-imposed price controls on eggs and chickens have been flouted by corporate entities.
On September 15, the Directorate of Livestock set the producer price for eggs at Tk 10.58, with a retail price cap of Tk 11.87. However, it has come to light that traders selling eggs at prices ranging from Tk 11.80 to Tk 12.50, while retail outlets are charging consumers between Tk 14 and Tk 15—marking an increase of up to Tk 2 per egg. Over the past 20 days, this deceptive pricing has reportedly resulted in a loss of 160 crore taka for consumers, as highlighted by the Bangladesh Poultry Association (BPA) in a recent press release.
In addition to eggs, the pricing of chicks has also surged following the government's new regulations. Previously sold for Tk 30 to Tk 35, broiler chicks are now being offered at Tk 40 to Tk 56, while layer chicks have jumped to Tk 70 to Tk 80. With approximately 3 million chicks produced daily, the BPA estimates an additional Tk 6 crore is being extracted from consumers each day due to inflated prices, leading to a total of Tk 120 crore in excess profits over the last 20 days.
BPA said that none of those who have been taken along to fix the price have sold at the price fixed by the government. Market volatility has been created due to the fixation of egg and chicken prices by the Department of Livestock and Agricultural Marketing only on the advice of corporate groups.
The BPA said a powerful syndicate of feed chicken companies and their associations and the Tejgaon Egg Traders Association, among others, is behind the ongoing unrest in the egg and chicken markets.
BPA President Md. Sumon Howladar said that some people collect eggs from the farm, syndicate them, fix the price and distribute them nationwide through mobile SMS and Facebook. It can be seen that egg traders all over the country are benefited from this. And producers and consumers are affected.
According to BPA, marginal farmers produce eggs and chicken but cannot set prices. The price is set by the corporate group and Tejgaon Egg Traders Association. Marginal farmers have to sell chicken eggs at the price they decide according to their convenience. Farmers get a fair price when prices rise. When prices fall, production is forced out due to losses. The reason for the instability in the egg and chicken market is the dominance of corporate groups and Tejgaon egg business syndicate. These syndicates have repeatedly looted thousands of crores of taka from the market, but due to their impunity, the instability in the market is increasing.
In 2022-23 when evidence of the syndicate was found, the syndicate was suppressed with the intervention of the then director general of the National Consumer Protection Directorate AHM Shafikuzzaman to keep the market calm. As a result, per kg of broiler chicken is reduced by about 100 taka. Apart from this, each egg was decreased by Tk 3.
The rise in the price of eggs at farm, wholesale and retail levels all over the country depends on the price fixed by Tejgaon Egg Association. Eggs are purchased from the farmer every four days. If the farmer wants to, he cannot sell the eggs to anyone else. Eggs have to be sold to the same wholesaler.
Common egg traders of Dhaka have to buy from Tejgaon egg market at the price fixed and written in the cash memo. Those who sell retail eggs in different markets of Dhaka have to sell their eggs depending on the price fixed in the cash memo from Tejgaon egg market.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on October 6 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan)
