THIMPHU: It might surprise many to learn that the current egg scarcity and the steep rise in prices to as high as Nu 480 (US$5.41) per tray was set in motion half a year ago.
Decisions made quietly on farms months earlier are now echoing loudly across kitchen tables nationwide.
Last year, when prices plunged, farmers cut back on purchasing day-old chicks (DoCs). Those missing chicks should have matured into layers six months later, but they never did. The result: thinner flocks, fewer eggs, soaring prices and households with lower incomes unable to afford this staple.
Eggs are more than just breakfast. In Bhutanese homes they are a cornerstone of nutrition, valued in both towns and villages. They remain one of the most affordable sources of protein, vital in school meals, rural diets and everyday cooking.
Until recently, the country prided itself on being self-sufficient in egg production. Yet today a carton of eggs is selling for more than Nu 3,200 in some places, close to the pandemic peak of Nu 3,500. Prices have spiked sharply over the past months, rising from Nu 1,900 in February 2025, to Nu 2,300 in July, and now to record highs. Each carton contains seven trays of 30 eggs.
At the core of egg production lies the supply of DoCs, the tiny chicks that grow into layers. Three government hatcheries produce an average of 450,000 DoCs annually, enough to sustain around 10 million eggs a month. This is the baseline needed for every citizen to get about three eggs a week.
But the system is precarious. When prices fall because of oversupply, farmers naturally buy fewer chicks. Six months later, that absence creates shortages and drives prices up. When prices rise, farmers rush to stock up on chicks. Half a year later, the market floods with eggs, prices collaps, and farmers again retreat. This repeating cycle—oversupply followed by collapse, then under investment followed by shortage—has become sharper in recent years.
Overshoot in 2023, collapse in 2024
In 2023, the government supplied 568,294 DoCs, while private suppliers imported another 149,800 from India. Farmers snapped them up as the market price for eggs was good, and flock sizes ballooned. By mid-2024, however, the market was saturated. Prices collapsed to Nu 190 per tray, forcing many farmers out. Some sold birds at steep losses, while others smuggled stock across the border.
The shock left farmers wary of restocking. For the 2024–25 cycle, the Department of Livestock planned to supply 453,900 DoCs. Farmers collected only 293,014—just 64.5 per cent of the target. That reluctance has now rippled forward: today’s shortages are the delayed result of yesterday’s decisions.
Feeding school children
While supply was shrinking, demand was climbing. In February 2025, Bhutan launched the One-Child-One-Egg (OCOE) programme, alongside an increase in student stipends to Nu 3,100 per month starting this fiscal year. Under OCOE, 90,569 students receive at least five eggs a week during school days. The initiative has been transformative for child nutrition, especially for rural and low-income children.
But it also added new pressure. Bhutan’s annual egg requirement has risen to 130.19 million—up by nearly eight million from the previous year, or about 22,000 extra eggs every day. With fewer hens in production, the strain on supply intensified.
Farmers bearing the strain
For farmers, the turbulence has been bruising. In Tsirang, poultry farmer Dilli Ram Waklay recalls the difficulties of 2024, when many sold hens at heavy losses after prices dropped to Nu 1,400 per carton. He reduced his flock from 3,000 to 2,500 birds. Today, along with eggs from his poultry farm and eggs he collect from other farmers, he supplies between 250 and 300 cartons weekly to Thimphu and plans to expand, though cautiously.
“When schools close, demand will fall and prices will decline. We will again collide with the big producers,” he said.
In Sarpang, farmer San Bahadur Subba keeps 4,500 birds, including 1,500 chicks. He believes prices are dictated by collectors, not farmers.
“In July, I sold one carton of eggs at Nu 1,800. In August, Nu 2,100. A month later, Nu 2,900. We are just carried along,” he said.
Farmers who do not supply eggs through OCOE contracts have more flexibility to set their own rates outside Bhutan Livestock Development Corporation Limited (BLDCL) benchmarks. While the BLDCL may buy eggs per carton at Nu 2,520, some private farms sell to the market at Nu 2,900. The margin helps farmers, but it also fuels further price escalation.
Feed costs only add to the pressure. A 50kg bag of Karma feed now costs more than Nu 2,000, while the newer 45kg UDOR (Udor Feeds, a company that imports and distributes animal nutrition products in Bhutan) feed sells for Nu 1,900. Even with higher egg prices, rising feed costs eat into profits. Farmers also complain of unfair competition from illegal imports. Retailers in border towns reportedly bring in eggs per carton from India at Nu 2,800 and resell them at Nu 3,500, undercutting domestic producers.
Government response
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL) maintains that Bhutan has sufficient capacity for both hatchery and egg production. Bhutan’s hatcheries can produce more chicks than farmers are willing to buy. The real issue, it says, is farmers’ reluctance to collect chicks when market prices fall as it reduces farmer’s purchasing power which in return disrupts egg market dynamics.
To ease the crisis, the ministry has submitted a proposal to the Cabinet. The plan calls for importing 120,000 commercial layer DoCs (Hy-line Brown breed only) by private DoCs importers between December 2025 and March 2026, in phased batches to prevent market shocks. As a last resort, the ministry also recommends time-bound imports of brown eggs through the BLDCL to supply the OCOE programme.
These are stop gap measures. Whether they succeed in stabilising supply or merely postpone the next crisis will depend on the choices made now—by policymakers, farmers and the market itself. - Kuensel
