Department of Economics & Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana – 141 004, Punjab.
The study has examined the import, export and price competitiveness scenario for eggs in different states of India as well as across different countries based on the data collected from published sources and websites. The production of eggs has been found highest in the state of Andhra Pradesh in 2006–07, followed by Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Punjab. The yield competitiveness index of eggs has been found more than 100 during 2006–07 for most of the major egg-producing states of India, except Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat and Rajasthan where the yield of eggs per bird was higher than in Punjab. Hence, it has been concluded that Punjab has comparative edge over most of the other major egg-producing states in term of egg productivity. Punjab has been found comparative advantage in selling its eggs in other state markets like Allahabad, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Miraj and Varanasi where the egg price has been found higher than Punjab prices even after considering transportation and handling charges to these state markets. Across countries, India has been found to have comparative edge over many countries, namely Germany, Indonesia, Denmark, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan where the price competitiveness index has been observed to be less than 100 due to higher prices in these countries even after accounting for freight charges, handling charges and tariffs, etc. India has advantage in exporting eggs to these countries provided it meets the quality standards fixed by the importing countries.
