First consignment of imported eggs arrives

The first imported consignment of eggs, which has become a much-talked item in recent months for high prices, entered Bangladesh today. 

Nearly 62,000 pieces of the protein item were brought into the country from India through Benapole land port, reports our correspondent.

The eggs arrived at the Benapole port in the evening. "We have already cleared the consignment," said Md Abdul Hakim, commissioner of Custom House, Benapole.

Custom House, Benapole Deputy Commissioner Othello Chowdhury said price of the imported eggs was quoted as $2,956.40 as per invoice, meaning one dozen eggs cost 0.54 cents.

Accordingly, the price of each egg in Bangladeshi stands at Tk 4.95.

And including tax, import price of each egg stands at Tk 6.61.

Bangladeshi importer BDS Corporation of West Rampura area of Dhaka got permission to import a total of 1 crore eggs. Only 61,950 eggs have been imported yesterday.

These eggs are being exported by Kanup Enterprises of Amtala in the state of Tripura, India.

Vinay Krishna Mandal, livestock officer at the Department of Livestock Services at Benapole, said there is no egg testing equipment at the port and egg consignments are being cleared from here on the basis of certificates issued by the Indian authorities.

Apart from that, if there is any visible problem, it will be looked into, he added.

In the face of rising prices of eggs, the commerce ministry on the second week of September decided to allow import of eggs. Since then, it permitted 15 companies to import 15 crore eggs to cool down the skyrocketing prices.

However, the arrival of the eggs was held up because of delays in getting certification from a competent authority that there was no avian influenza.

Yesterday each dozen of eggs sold for Tk 150 in Dhaka's markets, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.