Egg prices plunge, officially bidding farewell to the 4-yuan era
Eggs, which had previously remained high, have recently become much cheaper. Yesterday at many supermarkets and markets in Anshan, eggs were mostly below 4 yuan/jin, with some promotional prices even below 3.5 yuan/jin.
Since the second half of 2014, egg prices at their highest had approached 6 yuan/jin, and at the start of this year they remained no lower than 5 yuan/jin. Over the past week, as laying hens produced more eggs and out-of-town sales decreased, egg prices also fell sharply, dropping below the 4-yuan mark for the first time in a year.
On April 1, at the Lishan Shidai farmers' market, eggs were 3.9 yuan per jin, a price that had appeared for the first time in nearly a month, and sales also increased somewhat. Wang Fengjuan, who sells eggs at the market, said: “Egg prices in the past year have never been as low as they have been these past few days. Not only are residents happy, we are happy too. This year egg prices have all been above 4 yuan/jin, and during the Spring Festival they were even above 5 yuan/jin. Falling below 4 yuan is the first time this year. ”
What does an egg price below 4 yuan/jin mean? Just compare it with the same period last year and you will know. According to statistics from the Anshan Municipal Development and Reform Commission, on April 1 last year eggs were 4.5 yuan per jin, 0.6 yuan/jin higher than yesterday, so at the current price you can buy 1—2 more eggs per jin.
Cheaper eggs have little impact on ordinary families, saving them only two or three yuan a month. But for enterprise and school cafeterias, it is quite significant. Take the staff cafeteria of a certain enterprise as an example: after eggs became cheaper, it could save at least a thousand yuan a month.
The main reasons for the recent drop in egg prices are rising production and reduced out-of-town sales. Egg sellers said that wholesale prices have recently fallen and supply is not lacking. Since late March, egg production has increased. Most Anshan eggs are sold outside the city or even exported, and because out-of-town demand has recently decreased, prices ultimately fell. Looking at the full-year trend in recent years, egg prices fall after the Spring Festival and begin to rise again in September, so the current cheap eggs on the market are also normal. In addition, because raising laying hens became more profitable last year, more farmers took up the business, which also increased the egg supply.
Wang Xuejing of the Cost Supervision and Review Office of the Anshan Municipal Development and Reform Commission said that according to 2014 survey data, the average selling price of eggs in Anshan was 8.49 yuan per kilogram, and laying hen production in the second half of 2014 was better than in the first half. In the future, the laying hen farming industry is expected to enter a brutal reshuffling stage. After March 2015, egg prices will gradually move toward the cost line, and farming profits will gradually narrow. With rising feed prices and labor costs, small-scale laying hen farming models will be greatly affected.