India: Ban sought on speculation in poultry feed

As a result of extreme price rises in India for key feed ingredients for the poultry industry such as soy meal and maize, the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has appealed to the government to initiate measures to curb speculation and stockpiling of these two commodities and provide relief to farmers.

The Committee pointed out in a press release that during the past two months, there has been a steep increase in the price of soy meal, mainly due to forward trading, speculation and stockpiling by traders, exporters and certain multi-national companies, in anticipation of a substantial increase in the volume of export.

In the past three months, the price of soyameal has more than doubled. As a result of spiralling input costs, the cost of production for an egg has increased by 25%. Similarly, the production cost for broiler meat has risen by more than a third.

But the absence of a corresponding increase in farm-gate prices has led to poultry farmers incurring huge losses and unless the situation is remedied, half of the poultry industry would be wiped out, NECC said.

Simultaneously, the apex body also appealed to the Government for allocation of at least one million tonnes of wheat from the Food Corporation of India to minimise the pressure on the price of maize in the domestic market.