Poultry farmers in trouble because of falling egg prices

(Baonghean.vn) - Since Tet, duck eggs and chicken eggs have continuously dropped in price, from 25,000 VND/dozen before, to only 17-18,000 VND/dozen duck eggs but they still cannot be sold, many farms and ranches are losing more and more money...

For more than 2 weeks now, Mr. Dinh Van Ky's family in hamlet 8 Hung Chau - Hung Nguyen has had to sell dozens of eggs at the market while his flock of 500 ducks lays more than 400 eggs every day. The number of unsold eggs keeps increasing because the kiosks do not buy or import. Eggs cannot be sold and the price of eggs has also dropped dramatically. Before Tet, a dozen duck eggs sold at home was 25,000 VND, now it is only 17-18 thousand VND, not enough capital.

Ms. Phuong Thuong's house in hamlet 8, Hung Chau, raises 1,000 laying ducks, which is even more difficult. They harvest over 800 eggs a day, but it's hard to sell them anywhere. They only sell them retail at markets, so the eggs are left in crates. Industrial feed is expensive, so the more they raise, the more they lose, a month they lose 15 million VND. The same goes for Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung's farm in hamlet 3, Hung Loi. He currently has over 9,000 eggs left over for more than 10 days. Every day he goes to the farm to collect eggs, he gets thinner and thinner because of worry. His flock of 1,000 ducks eats 170 kg of Himart feed a day, costing 1.65 million VND, while the eggs pile up in the house. He has to run around to sell them at markets and stalls, each place, a total of 170,000 eggs that he has not yet paid off. Meanwhile, he has to have food every day, but he cannot buy on credit. He laments: If it continues like this, I will go bankrupt in a few days.

Mr. Dinh Van Thuong (village 8, Hung Chau) raises 1,000 ducks and worries: I have invested in an incubator but I can only sell the balut eggs in the summer. The price of balut ducks has also dropped sharply. Last summer they sold for 3,500 VND/egg, but now they are only 2,400 VND/egg.

Poultry farming is facing many difficulties, one of which is the bird flu. While having to take care of every detail of poultry, feeding them, spraying medicine, vaccinating them, and spending more effort, information about the flu has also caused the egg and poultry market to become more stagnant, even though the farms are not affected by the disease.

After Tet, the demand for eggs decreased, causing a lot of inventory. Meanwhile, eggs from the South and Chinese eggs flooded in, making local farmers even more helpless. Livestock farms in Hung Nguyen are still very passive in finding outlets, only selling at My market, Dai Hoc market, Vinh market. Last year, egg buyers came to pick up at home, but this year they did not, so households had to sell retail. In the past few days, Mr. Hung, Mr. Ky and some other duck farmers went to Ha Tinh with other farm owners to "negotiate" with animal feed companies in the hope of reducing feed prices. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung said: the most unreasonable thing is that while the prices of paddy, rice, and corn for livestock have decreased sharply, the price of animal feed is still high and has not decreased. 1 bag of Himart feed (Lai Thieu Binh Duong) costs 370 thousand VND, I have to feed ducks 3-4 bags a day, I have to borrow from the bank, borrow from relatives to raise and keep ducks. If you don't feed it, it won't lay eggs and will get sick more easily.

The story of backlog of goods at Hung Nguyen farms also shows that the output of livestock products is still completely dependent on the farmers without any consultation or effective long-term stable solution for them about the market.

Chau Lan