Egg prices have gone up from today (July 20), with the retail price of a white egg rising to Rs. 41 and a brown egg to Rs. 42, the All Ceylon Egg Producers’ Association announced.
Association Chairman Sarath Ratnayake announced the revised rates at a media briefing in Kuliyapitiya on July 19, attributing the increase to mounting pressure on the poultry industry’s feed supply.
Ratnayake said maize imports had been completely halted while domestic maize production was insufficient to meet the industry’s needs. Producers had been forced to rely on substitutes such as rice, which he said had adversely affected the health and digestive systems of poultry and driven a 20 to 30 per cent decline in egg production.
The Chairman placed direct responsibility for the price increase on the government and relevant authorities. He further alleged that some unscrupulous traders had mixed chemicals and medicines into animal feed, causing the deaths of large numbers of birds and inflicting heavy losses on farmers.
Eggs are a key source of affordable protein for many households, and the revision adds to cost-of-living pressures at a time when consumers remain sensitive to food-price movements. Producers have urged authorities to address the feed-supply bottleneck to stabilise both output and prices.
