Chicken eggs in Nghe An fall in price miserably

Although Nghia Hoan chicken eggs of Mr. Cao Van Cuong's household (Nghia Hoan, Tan Ky) have been recognized as 3-star OCOP at the provincial level, they are very difficult to sell. The price is too low, causing this farming household to lose 1.6 million VND per day for 2,000 eggs. Photo: Thanh Phuc

After 5 years of raising chickens, including 3 years of persistently pursuing the development of the OCOP-standard "Nghia Hoan Chicken Eggs" product, the owner of the Cao Van Cuong chicken farm (Nghia Hoan, Tan Ky) has never been in such a dire situation as this year.

Currently, Mr. Cuong's chicken farm has 3,000 laying hens, raised according toOCOP standardfrom breed selection to care, food and vaccination. In 2020, his Nghia Hoan chicken egg product was recognized as achieving 3 OCOP stars at the provincial level. It was thought that after being recognized, his family's chicken egg products would have the opportunity to expand the market and increase value, but since Tet until now, egg prices have dropped sharply, causing many difficulties for this farm owner.

“According to OCOP standards, the farming process is more rigorous and the investment cost is higher. During Tet, the egg price is 2,000 - 2,200 VND/egg, but with the current price of 1,200 - 1,500 VND/egg, there is a heavy loss (about 800 VND/egg). On average, 2,000 eggs are released to the market each day, equivalent to a loss of 1,600,000 VND/day,” said Cuong.

To sell, Cuong and his wife had to transport the eggs to retail markets, restaurants, and even to Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa to find markets. Due to losses, Cuong did not dare to re-raise the herd. The farm had 8,000 eggs, but Cuong only dared to raise 3,000. "It is difficult to cull laying hens now because there is no place to sell them, and the more they are raised, the more they lose, so I don't know what to do. If egg prices continue to drop sharply like this, I will probably have to leave the barn empty," Cuong shared.

Egg prices have hit rock bottom, so Mr. Nguyen Duc Luan, owner of a chicken farm in Dong Vinh (Vinh City), does not dare to restock. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Although there are stable consumption places such as schools, factories and wholesale at big markets, in the past 2 months, Mr. Nguyen Duc Luan, the owner of a chicken farm in Dong Vinh (Vinh City) has been "sitting on fire" when the price of chicken eggs has dropped sharply, hitting rock bottom as it is now. With a scale of 20,000 laying hens, collecting 18,000 eggs per day, selling them to the market at 12,000 VND/dozen, Mr. Luan lost about 5 million VND. "The price of eggs hit rock bottom while the price of feed has increased continuously, causing people toloss making livestockheavy. The more you raise, the more you lose.

According to a survey, the current price of chicken eggs at farms ranges from 1,100 - 1,500 VND/egg; at wholesale markets, the price is 2,000 - 2,200 VND/egg; at retail markets, the price is 3,000 VND/egg. Farmers said that the price of poultry eggs has never dropped so sharply and lasted for months like this year. Cheap egg prices and slow consumption have made farmers miserable. "Every day, we harvest tens of thousands of eggs, even if they are cheap, we have to import them and find a way to sell them all. If we let them pile up, we will not have working capital and the eggs will not last long. At this rate, it will be very difficult to maintain the chicken flock," said Mr. Luan.

Egg prices have dropped sharply, consumption has slowed, and this situation will continue if people massively increase their herds. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Causes ofpoultry egg priceThe sharp decrease, according to livestock farmers, is due to the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, many industries are seriously affected, in which restaurants and hotels are almost out of operation, kitchens at schools are temporarily closed... In addition, when the epidemic in livestock broke out, the price of piglets increased, pig farms in the province in particular and other localities in the country in general did not dare to re-herd pigs but switched to raising chickens. This led to supply exceeding demand, so the price of eggs as well as poultry prices decreased sharply.

Therefore, the authorities need to restructure the livestock industry, for poultry, it should develop towards improving product quality and supporting capital, science and technology for farms to reduce input costs, increase competitiveness in the market. At the same time, there should be solutions to build chains from production to consumption of poultry and poultry eggs to ensure favorable output, help farmers stabilize production and increase selling prices in the market.

According to data compiled by the General Statistics Office, as of the end of February 2021, the total poultry herd in Nghe An is estimated at 28,886 thousand heads, an increase of 6.74% (+1,824 thousand heads). Of which, the total chicken herd is estimated at 23,530 thousand heads, an increase of 8.96% (+1,935 thousand heads) over the same period in 2020 and an increase of 3 million heads compared to 2019. According to recommendations, farmers in the province need to be careful not to massively develop poultry herds. Because the rapid development of poultry herds leads to many consequences such as "oversupply crisis", price drops and losses for farmers.