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  • Bangladesh - Eggs get costlier

    Tuesday, July 7, 2009
    Eggs get costlier as middlemen cash in

    Sohel Parvez

    Retail prices of eggs have shot up to a record high of Tk 32 for a set of four and industry operators blame the hike on middlemen.
    A section of traders were also alleged to have created an artificial crisis in the market by spreading a rumour that egg prices would surge further. Panic buying reigned, as the prices of other sources of proteins, like fish, are already on the rise.
    Other factors such as a low level of production in summer and rainy seasons and a decline in the production of duck eggs also contributed to the rise in egg prices.
    The overall price for four eggs rose by 14 percent last week to Tk 32 from Tk 28.
    To curb eggs prices, the poultry industry has moved to open 15 stores in Dhaka city, where four eggs will be sold for Tk 26, according to operators.
    ?Egg prices are soaring due to the activities of middlemen, like retailers and hawkers,? said Taher Ahmed Siddique, president of Bangladesh Egg Producers Association, claming that the wholesale price of eggs has declined but traders are not cutting back on their prices.
    Egg wholesalers in Tejgaon, one of the main markets for eggs, claimed that the price for 100 pieces of eggs stood at Tk 660-670, down from Tk 700 a couple of days ago.
    Customers are yet to benefit from such a drop in prices. Some traders at Karwan Bazar said that they bought a hundred eggs for as much as Tk 700. They were demanding Tk 720 for the same yesterday.
    ?We bought 100 eggs for Tk 700. You will get 100 eggs (brown) for Tk 720,? said Mohammad Razu, an egg-seller at the Karwan Bazar kitchen market.
    ?Egg prices have increased due to an increase in the cost of transportation during the downpour last week. On Sunday, the wholesale price for a hundred eggs was between Tk 660-670,? said Nurul Islam, an egg wholesaler at Tejgaon.
    The prices of eggs were stable for nearly a month at Tk 28 for four eggs before it began to rise towards the end of June, amid a gradual decline in the supply of duck eggs.

    Industry insiders said demand for eggs is now high and the daily production of 1 crore units does not meet demand. The supply of eggs was affected heavily after bird flu ravaged tens of thousands of layer poultry farms.

    ?Retailers follow simple methods to determine the prices of eggs. They increase Tk 1 if price increases by Tk 0.20 per egg,? said Mizanul Islam Khan Masum, owner of Techno Poultry.
    ?Everybody in the trade knows that egg price increases this season. It creates an upward pressure on prices as middlemen want to buy more,? he said.
    Syed Abu Siddique, president of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA), said egg production remains low during the summer and rainy seasons.
    He however complained of foul play by middlemen such as retailers.
    ?Rumours in the market exist that the prices of four eggs would rise to as much as Tk 40. This has also influenced market prices,? Siddique said.
    ?But prices would soon fall as we are opening fair price shops,? said the BPIA president.
    sohel@thedailystar.net



  • #2
    Re: Bangladesh - Eggs get costlier

    This article is under the "feedback" section of the newspaper. Although it does not appear to have been written by a journalist it is a thoughtful and apparently accurate article


    Shortage of chicken and eggs

    ON MARCH 11, Kazi Breeders Limited declared an infection on our breeding farm in Thakurgaon. After conducting tests, the Department of Livestock Service confirmed that the infection was bird flu. Over the next few days over 115,000 of our breeding chickens were culled (killed and buried) by our farm workers under the supervision of government officers.
    The bird flu problem is far from solved. Over the last year, egg prices and chick prices have shot up. The government keeps screaming that ?syndicates? are manipulating prices, but it should now face facts: the poultry industry is shrinking. Poultry breeders have reduced their production because they are terrified of bird flu.
    Parent stock chickens (maintained by poultry breeding farms to produce chicks) are expensive; an outbreak of bird flu spells bankruptcy for all but the largest poultry breeding farms. To reduce risk, most poultry breeders are intentionally keeping some (or all) of their breeding sheds empty. As poultry breeders have reduced the production of chicks, poultry farmers (who raise these chicks) have correspondingly reduced the production of chicken and eggs, leading to a shortage of these foods. That is why chickens and eggs are now selling at record high prices. High prices are inevitable when an industry?s supply cannot satisfy its consumers? demand.
    There is a simple way to correct this shortage. For years, the poultry breeders? association has requested the government to allow the import of bird flu vaccines (which poultry breeders and farmers can use to protect their chickens from bird flu). If the government allows the import of these vaccines, breeders (and farmers) would quickly return to utilising their full production capacity. The egg and chicken shortages would be solved and prices would return to normal.
    The government has refused to allow the import of vaccines on the grounds that vaccination will not eradicate bird flu in Bangladesh (because no one will vaccinate the millions of backyard chickens owned by rural families). This argument ignores the reality that most Asian countries have successfully controlled (though not eradicated) bird flu by vaccinating farm chickens (to prevent large outbreaks) and culling infected chickens (on farms and in rural backyards).
    In most industries, producers automatically respond to high prices by increasing production. In Bangladesh, poultry breeders have been slow to respond to high chick prices by increasing their production of chicks. With the threat of bird flu, poultry breeding has become an extremely risky business; entrepreneurs are reluctant to invest their money to expand risky businesses. However, if the risk level were lowered by the availability of bird flu vaccines, chick production would increase rapidly.
    As the high prices of chickens and eggs are caused by low production of chicks ? not by any crooked ?syndicate? ? prices will not go down until the supply of chicks is increased.
    The government should immediately allow import of bird flu vaccine so that poultry breeders can protect their breeding chickens, and increase production of chicks without risk of a bird flu outbreak. Otherwise the current shortage of chicks ? and high prices of chicken and eggs ? will continue.
    Zahin Hasan
    Kazi Breeders Ltd
    "The only security we have is our ability to adapt."

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Bangladesh - Eggs get costlier

      Originally posted by kiwibird View Post
      This article is under the "feedback" section of the newspaper. Although it does not appear to have been written by a journalist it is a thoughtful and apparently accurate article

      For years, the poultry breeders’ association has requested the government to allow the import of bird flu vaccines (which poultry breeders and farmers can use to protect their chickens from bird flu). If the government allows the import of these vaccines, breeders (and farmers) would quickly return to utilising their full production capacity. The egg and chicken shortages would be solved and prices would return to normal.
      The government has refused to allow the import of vaccines on the grounds that vaccination will not eradicate bird flu in Bangladesh (because no one will vaccinate the millions of backyard chickens owned by rural families). This argument ignores the reality that most Asian countries have successfully controlled (though not eradicated) bird flu by vaccinating farm chickens (to prevent large outbreaks) and culling infected chickens (on farms and in rural backyards).

      Zahin Hasan
      Kazi Breeders Ltd
      The same Kazi Zahidul Hasan, Managing Director, Kazi Farms Group ?

      Originally posted by Treyfish View Post
      ‘The government is yet to facilitate vaccination in the poultry sector to keep the virus away,’ said the managing director of Kazi Farms Group, one of the leading poultry farms in the country.

      Kazi Zahidul Hasan said the government continued to ignore the early warning from the World Health Organisation and its advice for taking steps for vaccination.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Bangladesh - Eggs get costlier

        Turning a blind eye

        Photo: STAR
        Zeeshan HasanTO the casual observer, it might seem that bird flu is no longer news. It rarely appears in the papers any more, and one could be forgiven for thinking that the massive damage it did to the poultry industry a few years ago was a thing of the past. But this is not true. The outbreak of bird flu at a bio-secure breeder farm owned by Kazi Farms in North Bengal, a region that had been considered safe, shows that the threat is not over. Rather, it seems to be increasing, invading locations and well-managed farms that were previously not affected.

        What could be the reason for the sudden outbreak? Kazi Farms has always maintained international standards of bio-security in its locations. All poultry sheds are closed to the outside and environmentally controlled, limiting exposure to viruses from wild birds. All personnel live on the farm, and have to disinfect, shower and change uniforms and footwear in the morning before they enter the chicken sheds. People and vehicles entering the farm have to disinfect and wash their footwear and wheels. These standardised bio-security practices have been found internationally successful in preventing bird flu. So why an outbreak now, when the situation seems under control and levels of the bird flu virus should be low across the country?

        A possible explanation for the outbreak is the recent government decision to allow import of poultry chicks and eggs from India. The Indian news media has reported several outbreaks recently in the neighbouring state of West Bengal. These news reports make it obvious that India is not free of bird flu, and the government is mistaken in allowing imports of Indian poultry products.

        If Indian products carrying bird flu viruses are being imported, this will spread the virus to the markets where they are sold. The widespread dispersion of the virus would then make it easier for any farm in Bangladesh to be infected through a single poorly washed wheel, shoe or foot entering a farm. Import of poultry products and spreading the virus thus increases bird flu risks for all poultry farms in Bangladesh.

        The government should immediately wake up to the risks of importing Indian poultry products and put a stop to it. Stopping imports will cause a shortage and high chick prices temporarily; the solution is to allow local poultry breeders to vaccinate their flocks, as is done routinely in other Asian countries such as Indonesia, where the density of small-scale farming makes it difficult to ever completely stamp out bird flu. By vaccinating, breeders can lower their risk of outbreaks and replenish their parent flocks in a few months, raising the supply and lowering the price. This will make Bangladesh self-sufficient in day-old chick production again, as it was for most of the last decade until bird flu hit. In the meanwhile, allowing imports from only genuinely bird flu-free countries, as per standard international practice, should make up the shortage of poultry products.



        Zeeshan Hasan is a director of Kazi Farms.



        Ro: another director, perhaps it's a family business
        Twitter: @RonanKelly13
        The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Bangladesh - Eggs get costlier

          Founded in 1996, Kazi Farms Group is now the largest player of the poultry industry in Bangladesh. Our market share is 25% of day-old chicks (DOC) and 20% of broiler feed. We also run a world-class broiler grand-parent (GP) operation which was responsible for Bangladesh's first exports of hatching eggs and day-old chicks in 2004. In that year, our Managing Director, Kazi Zahedul Hasan, was named Businessperson of the Year by the Daily Star/DHL Business Awards. We have over 50 breeding farms, hatcheries, feed mills and sales offices around the country, doing business under the following companies:

          ?Kazi Farms Ltd.
          ?Kazi Hatchery Ltd.
          ?Kazi Breeders Ltd.
          ?Kazi Foods Ltd.
          ?North Bengal Eggs Ltd.
          ?Tetulia Eggs Ltd.
          ?Bhaluka Farms Ltd.
          ?Royal Bengal Chicken Ltd.
          ?Hybrid Farms Ltd.
          ?Kazi Shivpur Hatchery Ltd.
          ?Kazi Grand Parents Ltd.
          ?Kazi Broilers Ltd.
          ?Kazi Chicks Ltd.
          ?Kazi Chicken Farms Ltd.
          ?Taragonj Hatchery Ltd.
          ?Srabon Poultry Ltd.
          ?Ashalata Poultry Ltd.
          ?Atrayee Poultry Ltd
          ?Sukumoy Poultry Ltd.
          ?Uttara Kazi Limited


          Company background

          Kazi Farms Limited was established in 1996 as a hatchery of imported eggs. The following year it started its own parent farms, and in 2004 production started in our grand-parent (GP) farms.

          In addition to producing breeder feed to meet our own requirements, in 2006 we established the largest and most advanced feed mill in the country with technical assistance from Cargill USA and Buhler Switzerland.

          Kazi Farms Group is the grand-parent franchisee of Cobb-Vantress USA for Cobb 500, acknowledged world-wide to be the best broiler. We also have a smaller number of grand-parents of the popular Ross broiler from Aviagen USA. Regarding layers, we are the Bangladesh distributor for Hy-line USA, the world's leading layer breed.
          Kazi Farms Group was the first exporter of hatching eggs and day-old chicks from Bangladesh.

          Kazi Farms Group has over 50 broiler parent farms, layer parent farms, broiler grand-parent (GP) farms, hatcheries, feed mills and sales offices in different locations throughout Bangladesh.

          Management Profile

          Mr. Kazi Zahedul Hasan, an architect/engineer, obtained his M. Arch. degree from Harvard University in the USA. He was a professor of the Department of Architecture at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, and in the School of Environmental Design, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He has extensive experience as an architect in the USA and Saudi Arabia. He is a member of The American Institute of Architects as well as the Royal Institute of British Architects. Mr. Hasan was founder and Managing Director of Kazi Fashion Limited for almost twenty years, until selling it in 2002 in order to focus on poultry. He is the founder and Managing Director of Kazi Farms.

          Dr. Perween Hasan, wife of Mr. Kazi Zahedul Hasan, received an M.A. in English from Dhaka University, and another M.A. and a Ph.D. (History of Fine Arts) from Harvard University. USA. Presently, she is a professor at Dhaka University. She is a Director of all companies in Kazi Farms Group.

          Mr. Kazi Zeeshan Hasan obtained his B.A. in Economics from Oberlin College, USA, his M. Theological Studies from Harvard University, USA, and an his M.Sc. (Management of Information Systems) from the London School of Economics, UK. He is a Director of Kazi Farms Limited and its sister companies, where he is directly involved in overseeing management of sales and raw materials purchases. He has received training in feed milling and raw materials evaluation from Cargill Indonesia.

          Mr. Kazi Zahin Hasan obtained his B.A. (Economics) from Oberlin College, USA, and his Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University, USA. He is a Director of Kazi Farms Limited and its sister companies. He has been responsible for the production operations of Kazi Farms Group for the past ten years. He has received training in poultry in the U.S.A. and Thailand.
          Twitter: @RonanKelly13
          The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.

          Comment

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