"eggs are so cheap?" citizen lee lee li, in a kitchen near huangshan road, looked at the price of the egg as a bit surprised, "it's been a long time since the price of the egg was so low for four pounds."
Indeed, not only in nanjing, there has been a sharp fall in the price of eggs throughout the country this year. Data show that, as of the week of 11 june, the price of eggs had fallen by 3. 65 per cent to $5. 54/kg, a new low since july 2020。
The price of eggs dropped sharply to a low point in five years
At noon on 18 june, journalists visited a number of agricultural and trade markets in nanjing and found that there had been a marked fall in the price of eggs in the recent past。
In a restaurant near huangshan road, the merchants placed the whole box of eggs in front of the shop, one of which, mr. Lee, the owner, introduced, “the fresh eggs in the store amount of 4. 1 pounds, which could be cheaper if they were larger”. He said that the price of eggs was indeed falling this year, and the decline was not small: “it was about $5. 5 a pound after spring, and the retail price of fresh eggs in the market is now about $4 a pound, and the decline is still larger.”
There is a large supermarket on the road to zhushan, where there is a rich variety of eggs, as well as rich eggs, weed eggs, earth eggs, raw eggs, etc., and prices vary considerably. For example, 30 eggs weighing 1. 6 kg were loaded at $14. 9 and converted to approximately $9. 3/kg. The shopkeeper stated that “this price is much cheaper than it was three or four months ago”
Egg prices have been falling this year in many parts of the country. In shandong, data show that during the twenty-third week of this year (first half of june), the average price of eggs sold across the province dropped to $6. 79/kg, not only at a new low in the year but also at its lowest point in nearly five years. Nationally, the latest data show that, as of the week of 11 june, the price of eggs had dropped by 3. 65 per cent to $5. 54/kg, reaching a new low since july 2020 and falling for three consecutive weeks。
Why don't we just keep the prices down
According to nanjing's announcement, on 10 february, the prices of eggs in the four agricultural markets were $5, $5, $5. 8 and $5 per 500 respectively, compared with the prices of eggs in the four farmers' markets of $4, $4, $4. 5 and $4 per 500 respectively on 16 june, which are now about 21 per cent lower than on 10 february。
The continuing decline in egg prices has increased consumer incentives and increased consumer enthusiasm to buy eggs. Consumer lili said that eggs were a very common consumer, and that they were a good whole family, “so cheap, they bought more without realizing it”. She also indicated that there had recently been a marked increase in the weight of eggs in a number of dishes at meals outside the restaurant。
So why has the price of eggs been falling ever since this year? According to experts, the recent decline in egg prices is mainly due to the fact that the country's high production of egg chickens has remained at around 1. 13 billion, at a historically high level during the same period, and the egg market is well supplied. In a pattern of weak supply and demand, the price of the eggs is down。
With more than 50,000 egg chickens raised annually at the xinhua chicken farm in nanjing, and 2500 kg of eggs produced daily, the head of the department, chen hyun-in, believed that the price of eggs had fallen significantly, most notably because of the high stock of egg chickens and the availability of sufficient egg markets, as well as because of the relatively low season of egg consumption and insufficient market demand。
When will we return to the profit zone
Indeed, the fall in egg prices has led to losses for many egg-cookers or farming enterprises after the spring season, but lower price pressures have been brought about by incentives for egg prices in the second half of the year, a higher incentive for farmers or farming enterprises to supplement the production cycle, and even by increasing the market supply by means of forced exchange of feathers. According to chen hyun-in, a small drop in egg prices is expected, but there is little space。
“as the price of eggs fell below the feed cost line in june, the price of eggs was switched or appeared after mid-july.” professionals have suggested that sustained losses could push farmers to accelerate the elimination of chickens, while high summer temperatures could lead to seasonal declines in egg production rates, and supply pressures could be reduced. At the same time, the demand for eggs will be affected by summer tourism, the opening of primary and secondary schools, mid-autumn festivals, national holidays, etc., and the potential for consumption is expected to be fully released, market demand will warm up, egg prices will be expected to rebound in stages and markets will gradually enter new profit zones。
Industry experts suggested that, for the time being, farms should pay close attention to market conditions, be flexible in adjusting their catch-up schemes and avoid the risk of excessive expansion of production capacity. In the case of small-scale farming enterprises or some farmers, consideration could be given to increasing the value added of poultry and egg products to protect against market risks through special farming。
The nanjing daily/yu jinshan journalist
