Staff Correspondent

Sajal Mahmud, returning home after work on Monday evening, was taken aback when he visited the egg stalls at Karwan Bazar. Usually, there are at least five vendors selling eggs in the kitchen market area. But on Monday, only one vendor was present, selling duck eggs instead of the usual chicken eggs.

“Brother, where can I get eggs?” Sajal asked the vendor, Md Nasir, who replied: “We couldn’t get any ourselves. So where will you find them?”

Speaking to bdnews24.com, Sajal expressed his frustration: “I don’t understand what’s going on with eggs. The price rises, there’s a crackdown, and now you can’t find them anywhere.”

The egg supply has dwindled in both Dhaka and Chattogram after wholesalers stopped selling due to losses from government price controls.

The Department of Livestock Services had fixed the ‘fair price’ for eggs, but wholesalers claim they cannot even buy at those rates, leading to fines for selling at higher prices.

Wholesalers have opted to halt sales instead of selling at a loss, causing shortages in the retail market.

“We can’t sell eggs,” said Md Nasir, a retailer in Karwan Bazar.

“The wholesalers have shut their shops because they say it’s not profitable for them,” he added.

Over the past two years, egg prices have consistently risen.

After the interim government came to power, the livestock services department set a price ceiling on Sept 15.

It fixed the farm-level price at Tk 10.58 per egg, the wholesale price at Tk 11.01, and the retail price at Tk 11.87.

However, eggs are unavailable at these rates.

Wholesalers say they pay over Tk 12.50 per egg to bring them to Dhaka, higher than the government-set retail price.

Despite this, the Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection, or DNCRP, has fined several businesses up to Tk 100,000 for overpricing in both Dhaka and Chattogram.

Commerce Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed faced questions about the egg crisis during his visit to Karwan Bazar.

When asked about the supply, he said: “You see there’s no supply. We produce 45 to 50 million eggs, but I can’t just manufacture eggs with a machine.”

TEJGAON SITUATION

On Monday evening, the egg wholesale markets in Dhaka’s Tejgaon area remained closed, with traders confirming they had stopped selling since Sunday night. No vehicles were sent to farms to collect eggs on Monday, and the pick-up vans were instructed to halt operations for two days.

Nasir from Nasir & Brothers, a member of Tejgaon Egg Traders' Association, told bdnews24.com, “We are supposed to sell eggs at Tk 11.01 as per the government rate, but we’re buying them from the farms at Tk 12.50.”

Md Shahidul, an employee at a nearby hardware shop, confirmed that no vehicles had been sent to farms for deliveries since Sunday night.

“I heard they couldn’t send trucks because it’s not profitable for them,” he said, pointing to idle trucks.

Around 15 idle pick-up trucks could be seen parked outside the warehouses.

Abdul Mannan, a driver of one of the trucks, said, “We were told by the egg association not to bring in eggs for two days, so none of us have gone.”

Asked whether deliveries would resume on Tuesday, Mannan said: “We haven’t been informed yet.”

As wholesalers have halted sales, consumers at Karwan Bazar are left without eggs, with many returning empty-handed.

SITUATION IN KAPTAN BAZAR

Unlike Tejgaon, eggs are still available in Dhaka’s oldest wholesale market, Kaptan Bazar.

“Our market is still operating normally,” said wholesaler Md Masud.

However, even here, the government’s ‘fair price’ is not being followed.

“Yesterday, we bought eggs for Tk 12.55 each, including transport, and sold them for Tk 12.80,” said Masud.

“But today, we bought at Tk 13, which means we’ll lose money tomorrow,” he added.

"We can't sell at a lower price than what we buy for."

CHATTOGRAM’S PAHARTALI MARKET

In Chattogram’s Pahartali, egg sales have also been suspended since Monday, according to Abdul Shukkur, general secretary of the Egg Traders' Cooperative Association.

“We’re supposed to make Tk 0.20 to Tk 0.30 profit per egg. But we’ve been fined Tk 100,000 for selling at Tk 12.80, which is the market rate.”

Shukkur explained that on Monday, the market price was Tk 12.80, but they would need to sell at Tk 13.30 on Tuesday.

Pahartali market is a major distribution hub, selling 2.2 to 2.5 million eggs daily to the city and surrounding areas.

Retail egg prices in Chattogram on Monday reached Tk 1,400 per hundred eggs, with individual eggs selling for Tk 15.

Despite the claims by traders, Fayez Ullah, deputy director of the DNCRP in Chattogram, remains firm.

He told bdnews24.com: “We’ve heard they’ve stopped selling eggs, but we can’t let them run businesses illegally. They must comply with the law.”

Shukkur countered, saying: “We’re told to keep receipts, but the wholesale market doesn’t provide any receipts, so we can’t show them either.”