Curious case of rising demands for eggs with broken shell in parts of Bangladesh: Media report

New Delhi, May 19 In a curious turn, people in a part of Bangladesh have lately been found buying eggs with shells broken during transit, storage, or handling, in large quantities, pushing up prices for the damaged product which otherwise were thrown or consumed by the seller's family, according to a media report.

From about Bangladesh Taka 5-6 for each broken egg, the price has now crept up to Tk 8, Dhaka's popular Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported on Tuesday.

It found that demand for such broken eggs has increased at the Raiganj upazila of Sirajganj district in Rajshahi division.

A shopkeeper in one of Raiganj town's largest markets told the newspaper that the price for four pieces of chicken egg was earlier Tk 36-38, which has now increased up to around Tk 50.

This has, in turn, resulted in a decrease in sale of eggs, where one particular shop once sold 3,000 to 3,500 pieces a day.

That number has now dropped to about 2,000 pieces per day.

The report later explained that shoppers from low-income groups preferred broken eggs due to the price difference.

But the spurt in demand for broken-shell eggs has pushed up prices of the otherwise damaged product, other shopkeepers in the vicinity, too, echoed similar development.

One of them told the newspaper that earlier he used to take broken eggs home after a day's business.

It was very scarce that people would buy such a product, sometimes one or two at most. However, for the past few days, the report quoted, many buyers have been looking for broken eggs.

And in case when there were no broken eggs available, customers would even request the seller to keep these so they could pick up later.

"I'm buying these since the price of (whole) eggs is high. It saves us some money," an unnamed buyer said.

"I have a daughter in school. If the (remaining in a broken) egg is fried with rice, she can have a meal. The price of good eggs is high, so I buy broken ones," another said.

A school teacher explained to the newspaper the nutrition value of eggs which is available at comparatively lesser prices that could have resulted in the low-income group seeking broken shelled ones.

This has led to traders increasing the cost of such eggs, broken in transit or otherwise.

"They keep the damaged product separate for customers with tighter budgets, having spiked costs by Tk 2-3 each. The sudden -- and what some sellers termed as unexplained -- increase in price of all types of eggs has pushed up demand for broken eggs," the report noted.

"We also don't understand why the price of eggs has suddenly increased. Sales have decreased due to this. Many people are now asking for broken eggs," Egg trader Jahangir Alam told the newspaper.

"I have never bought broken eggs before. These now cost almost the same as it was earlier for proper eggs," a labourer said to Prothom Alo.

"At present, farm-bred chicken eggs are being sold at Tk 48-50, duck eggs for Tk 60-65 and "golden" chicken eggs at Tk 60-65 in various markets of Raiganj upazila," the report added.

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