12 firms given permission to bring them in

The commerce ministry has permitted five firms to import five crore pieces of eggs in order to increase supply of the protein item and check its prices in the domestic market, it said in a statement today.

The government has allowed six companies to import six crore pieces of eggs.

The government should have facilitated egg imports for a certain period because of the recent abnormal price hike for the low-cost source of protein, according to Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB).

The government would import eggs if the price of the low-cost source of protein keeps an upward trend, said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.