Ukrainian authorities force reduction in egg prices

In Ukraine, egg prices rose by 18% to 9.4-9.5 UAH (US$ 1.17-1.18) per package of 10 eggs in February.

The price already rose 4% in December 2011, and experts estimate the price of eggs has become too high for a significant portion of the population. Retail price of eggs during the first quarter of 2012 is expected to increase by as much as 40%.

The rise has prompted the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to call on manufacturers and retailers to reduce prices, stating that the February price increase was unreasonable. Authorities are threatening the producers to actively start an audit and checks, with middle level manufacturers being accused of price fluctuations.

The production costs, according to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, have not changed much since the price of feed for December-February remained stable. There was not any lack of production in the market either – sales in January compared with December, were even down from 957 million to 887 million units. Moreover, the production rate has been stable – at the level of 1.35 billion units per month. Therefore the experts estimated that the rise in retail prices for eggs currently are far ahead of the growth rate of wholesale prices for their purchases.

The committee recommended that the 39 poultry farms within the agricultural holdings Avanguard, Ovostar Union and Inter, lower the prices for their products within 10 days. “If they do not meet our recommendations, territorial control will start checks, because each of these poultry producers actually occupies a monopoly position in the regional market”, said Deputy Head of Committee Raphael Kuzmin.