Some traders are attributing the high price of eggs to a shortage of supplies at farms caused by the replacement of old hens and a rise in export demand.
Wanchai Rungmitcharatsaeng, 65, owner of an egg shop in Khon Kaen’s Muang district, said he’s been running his business for more than two decades, and egg prices today are the highest they have ever been.
As a result, most egg sellers have stopped selling the largest-sized eggs, known as No 0 eggs, due to concerns they may not sell as well as smaller and cheaper eggs, he said.
No 0 eggs now cost 145 baht per carton of 30 eggs wholesale, with each egg retailing at 6 baht, he said, noting in the past it was only about 140 baht per carton.
Meanwhile, the smaller No 1 eggs have a wholesale price of 135 baht per carton, with each egg costing 4.5 baht at retail, he said.
“The farms supplying the eggs to my shop claim now is the time for replacing old hens with younger ones and demand for export egg is high,” he said.
Egg prices have risen in the past few months, with 2–6 baht a carton each time, according to a source.
Kosol Nadam, 36, owner of an egg shop in Uthai Thani, also said egg prices are at the highest in decades.
Suthasin Amaruek, president of the Thai Egg Merchant Trade Association, asked why the prices of No 3, 4 and 5 eggs have also been on the rise in the past two to three months, even though these smaller-sized eggs aren’t needed for exports.