In Russia's egg crisis, Tamil Nadu town hopes to crack export opportunity

An egg crisis in Russia may present an opportunity for Namakkal in Tamil Nadu.

Since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, India became one of the largest importers of crude oil from Russia.

Now, if negotiations between both the countries are successful, Namakkal may well be an answer to the ongoing shortage of eggs in Russia. According to traders, Namakkal is the ‘Egg City’ and reportedly exports 95 per cent of India’s table eggs. Talks are already on with Russia for export of eggs.

This comes at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a rare apology last month regarding the price hike and shortage of eggs.

“I apologise for this, but this is a failure of the government's work... I promise that the situation will be corrected in the near future,” Putin said, according to a Reuters report. 

A combination of high inflation and sanctions imposed by the West has led to the egg crisis in Russia. This resulted in prices going up by 42 per cent in the last 12 months.

“Russia is going through a huge shortage and has asked for eggs. We need government intervention. If it works out, Russia will be a huge market for us,” said Vangili Subramaniam, president of Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Marketing Society. Currently, Oman, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Qatar and UAE are the top five countries to which India exports eggs.

“Russia is not yet open. It is just an early stage and will be a huge opportunity. We are requesting the government to speed up the process of tying up with Russia. Only dialogue is going on now,” said Valsan Parameswaran, secretary of All India Poultry Products Exporters’ Association (AIPPEA). He added that going by the demand in that country, the requirement for Russia may be over 50 containers a month.

India exported eggs worth $110,000 to Russia during April-October 2023 compared to $10,000 a year ago, commerce department data showed. India's total egg exports nearly doubled to $53.37 million during the first seven months of the current financial year.

However, experts feel that export of eggs to Russia may not be easy for India.

A senior government official said that when it comes to human health, countries, especially western nations, are sensitive about the quality of products they import. These include items such as eggs, milk, fruits or vegetables, among others. In the case of eggs, there aren’t any export restrictions imposed by India.

“For instance, if countries intend to import a particular food item, they generally reach out to the concerned government department. They put up a request to check Indian facilities and we will see if import-related standards are met,” the official said. “They also raise queries, if required,” the person added.

Standards vary, depending on the product and the country of export.