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 Egg" 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 selecting breeds to care, feeding as well as 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, the family's chicken egg product would have the opportunity to expand the market and increase its value, but since Tet until now, the price of eggs has 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, which is still break-even, 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,” Cuong said.

To sell, Cuong and his wife had to transport them 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 a scale of 8,000 hens, 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 we don't know what to do. If egg prices continue to drop sharply like this, we 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 re-raise his flock. 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, 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. "Egg prices hit rock bottom while feed prices increased continuously, causing people toloss-making livestock farmingheavy. 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. Breeders 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 markets have made farmers miserable. "Every day, we harvest tens of thousands of eggs, even though they are cheap, we have to import them and find ways to sell them all. If there is a backlog, there will be no working capital and the eggs cannot be stored for 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 pricesThe 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 on 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 in the direction of improving product quality and supporting capital and 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 flock in Nghe An is estimated at 28,886 thousand, an increase of 6.74% (+1,824 thousand). Of which, the total chicken flock is estimated at 23,530 thousand, an increase of 8.96% (+1,935 thousand) over the same period in 2020 and an increase of 3 million compared to 2019. According to recommendations, breeders in the province need to be careful not to massively develop poultry flocks. Because the rapid development of poultry flocks leads to many consequences such as "oversupply crisis", price drops and losses for breeders.