Guwahati: Egg prices in the city markets have jumped by up to Rs 30 per crate over the past week.Retail rates have climbed to Rs 250-260 a crate from around Rs 220 last week, traders said, blaming lower poultry output during the extreme summer and higher feed, labour, fuel and transport costs.Munshiatul Haque, a Uzan Bazar trader who has been in the egg business for 15 years, said the rise was driven by multiple factors. “Feed prices, labour charges and transportation costs have all gone up. At the same time, production has been affected due to the heat,” Haque said, adding that eggs sourced from Andhra Pradesh had become costlier.Babidal Islam, a trader at Ulubari Bazar , said the increase was unusually steep. “A month ago, I was selling a crate for around Rs 210. Last week it was Rs 220 and now it is Rs 250.”He said prices never crossed Rs 230 in the last five years. Extreme heat, he added, hit poultry production, with many birds dying.The rise has strained household budgets, particularly for families that depend on eggs as an affordable protein source. Some consumers said they were reworking weekly grocery expenses, while others continued to buy eggs for their nutritional value.“Eggs are a nutritional food source for my kids and easy to prepare for school tiffins,” said Ranju Singh.Ramakanta Sinha said he would buy duck eggs despite their higher price. “Duck eggs are tastier, I’d pay more to buy them instead of hen eggs,” he added.
