Easter Egg Market Demand Will Be Met, Says President of Armenian Poultry Farmers Union

As Easter approaches, the egg market in Armenia is facing confusion due to product shortages and price increases. Consumers either cannot find eggs in stores because they sell out quickly, or if they do find them, the prices are high.

Sergey Stepanyan, the President of the Armenian Poultry Farmers Union, mentioned in an interview with Armenpress that this situation is caused by a combination of several problems. “The main reason is that certain groups are creating an artificial shortage in the market, leading to panic among our citizens. The eggs put on daily sale are consumed within hours due to large purchases. For instance, when a store orders 20-30 boxes of eggs, they are sold out in 2-3 days. Suddenly, what happened is that after sending the eggs to the same network of stores, a couple of hours later they call back saying there are no eggs left. We are monitoring the situation and I can confidently say we haven’t had such significant purchases in a long time. People are coming in and buying eggs by the cartload,” said Stepanyan.

According to him, it is likely that those who create the artificial shortage are those who have acted as intermediaries in the egg trade but are now out of the loop. “We have transitioned to centralized supply, and some intermediary links have been excluded. Some were making income from reselling, but now that income has been cut off. The reality is that we used to have such an overproduction of eggs that we couldn’t sell them. Last year, due to the pandemic and war, we couldn’t import ‘chicks’ to renew the necessary stock, and we were only able to import from abroad at the end of November. As a result, the reproductive cycle was slightly delayed. Some found an opportunity to take advantage of this situation. If you’ve noticed, prices are higher in smaller shops, why? Because they don’t get them directly from the producer. Now, they are buying in bulk from supermarkets and reselling in small shops, resulting in two different prices in the commercial market: one price in supermarkets and another in small shops,” Stepanyan emphasized, noting that this is compounded by citizens' panic and additional purchases.

Despite the confusion in the market, the President of the Armenian Poultry Farmers Union assures that the demand for Easter eggs will be met. Regarding the price of eggs, Stepanyan noted that nothing escapes the eye of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC). If they detect that a producer is making excessive profits, appropriate measures will be taken. The SCPEC informed Armenpress that they continue to monitor ongoing processes in the egg market, and inquiries have been sent to companies operating in the sector aimed at uncovering the prevailing market situation. Once summarized, the public will be informed. It is also noted that daily inspections are being conducted in large retail chains for more than 90 product categories, including eggs.

The SCPEC conducted a large-scale study in the egg circulation sector last year. They reported that based on a decision from December 15, 2020, fines totaling 103 million AMD were imposed on seven major companies in the egg sales sector for anti-competitive agreements. The violation negatively impacted the competitive situation in the 'Chicken Egg - with Shell' market and harmed several producers with small and medium production volumes, with nine small farms exiting the market.