Nghe An: Duck eggs drop to rock bottom but still difficult to sell

Duck eggs are currently discounted and unsold. Photo: Xuan Hoang

As a district with a tradition of raising ducks, Yen Thanh currently has 20 duck farms, with a total flock of over 252 thousand laying ducks. Each day, they produce about 200 thousand eggs. However, recently, duck egg prices have dropped to rock bottom, causing farmers to suffer losses.

Mr. Doanh - Thuy's family in Nam Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) is currently raising more than 4,000 laying ducks, combined with the business of an egg incubator. They said: For nearly 2 months now, duck eggs have dropped sharply in price, from 2,200 - 2,400 VND/egg to 1,600 - 1,700 VND/egg, but it is very difficult to sell, and more and more unsold eggs are being sold. With this egg price being the lowest in many years, the more you raise, the more you lose.

"Previously, ducklings and duck eggs were easy to sell and had good prices, so people actively incubated them to make a profit. However, when ducklings and duck eggs were slow to sell, the amount of eggs incubated decreased significantly, leading to cheaper and unsold duck eggs," said Ms. Thuy.

Duck eggs are now at their lowest price in many years. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Small-scale duck farms, quantityduck eggsEggs that were previously imported daily for incubators now have to be sold cheaply to traders who transport them for retail sale.

Mr. Pham Van Tra in Quynh Ba commune (Quynh Luu) said that his family only raises 400 laying ducks, each day they collect about 300 eggs, but the eggs are cheap, not enough to cover the investment cost. Currently, he imports eggs from traders at 1,600 VND/egg, knowing that it is not enough capital, but still has to raise them, hoping that in the future the price of eggs will increase, if he sells the ducks, he will lose money, because the price of duck meat also decreases.

It is known that in Do Luong, Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen... duck eggs have all had deep price drops, from 1,600 - 1,700 VND/egg, and consumption is slow.

To sell eggs, many duck farms have to transport them to retail shops. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Duck farmers are worried that while egg prices have fallen sharply, the price of feed for laying ducks has increased, causing duck farmers to suffer more and more losses. Nearly a month ago, the price of a 40 kg bag of duck feed was 310,000 VND, but now it has increased to 330,000 VND/bag. Therefore, many households are in a "dilemma" because the price of meat ducks is also cheap, 40,000 - 50,000 VND/duck. If they sell the original ducks, they will lose the investment capital for several months, but if they continue to raise them, they will also lose capital, because selling eggs is not enough to cover the cost of feed.

The reason for the sharp drop in duck egg prices, according to hatchery owners in Yen Thanh district, is that meat ducks are cheap at this time, so people do not buy ducklings to raise, leading to hatcheries not producing ducklings; at the same time, in winter, duck eggs are consumed slowly, causing a large amount of duck eggs to be left unsold and not consumed in time.

According to the investigation of local reportersVinh Cityand rural areas show that duck eggs are sold at retail prices from 2,300 to 2,500 VND/egg, a decrease compared to before. At Quan Lau market (Vinh city), duck eggs are priced at 2,500 VND/egg, according to people, this price is 200 VND/egg lower than before./.