The government has allowed four companies to import eggs to bring the prices down in the local market.

The four companies are: Mrs Mim Enterprise, Tiger Enterprise, Prime Energy and Arnob Trading, said a notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce on Sunday (17 September).

According to the notification, the companies can only import eggs from bird0flu and influenza-free countries.

The companies also must pay the determined taxes and show a bird-flu and influenza-free certification from the country where they are importing the eggs.

In August, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said egg imports would be allowed in coordination with the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock if the price does not come down soon.

The egg market became volatile a few months ago, but the price started to fall after the commerce ministry announced to monitor the market. Egg prices went as high as Tk15 each. The government set the price of an egg at Tk12.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim said the price of eggs should not be more than Tk12 a piece at the retail level as the production cost per egg is around Tk10.50.

Egg producers said before the pandemic, the daily production of eggs in the country stood at around five crore pieces. But during the pandemic, many farms have been closed due to chronic losses.

The Bangladesh Poultry Industry Central Council said the current daily egg production has fallen below four crore pieces due to the closure of many layer farms.

Market insiders have alleged that banking on the supply-demand gap, a class of unscrupulous traders are making extra profits. Even some farmers are selling eggs at higher prices.

Abu Luthfe Fazle Rahim Khan, senior vice president of the Breeders Association of Bangladesh, told The Business Standard, "There is a big mismatch between demand and supply because we do not know what our actual demand is. Sometimes when the price is high, the production increases, and when the production is high, the price falls leaving producers in the lurch."

"But despite the high production cost of eggs at present, the retail price should not be more than Tk13 a piece," he added.

According to producers, feed prices have gone up due to rising prices of various ingredients, which increased the cost of production.

To reduce the cost, there are alternative ingredients for feed production, which traders want to import duty-free.