India: Egg industry demands ban on forward trading

India's National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has reiterated its demand for a ban on forward trading in maize and soyameal, saying the unprecedented rise in the prices of these commodities seen recently is due to forward trading. The committee has also urged the Centre to canalise the export of these goods through a designated government agency so as to curb the speculative tendency in the market. The steep increase in maize and soyameal has severely hit the consuming industry such as the poultry feed and the poultry farming which use these as ingredients in their feed manufacturing, the NECC said, adding that in the absence of a corresponding increase in farm-gate prices, poultry farmers and breeding farms/hatcheries suffered huge losses. Already, 10 percent of the poultry industry has closed down and if the situation continued, another 30 percent of the industry would be forced to close down in the near future. The NECC in a communication has also wanted the government to provide an eight percent interest subvention on bank loans availed by the poultry farmers.