Dhaka, Oct. 9 -- For consumers, the egg has become another small calculation at the market counter. For farmers, it is a daily gamble: keep producing and absorb the losses, or cut back and risk losing the business altogether.

Egg prices have remained high for about a month. According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, a dozen eggs cost as much as Tk 162 on Thursday, up from Tk 150 a month earlier. In neighbourhood shops, brown eggs were selling for Tk 160-165 a dozen.

Farmers say the squeeze comes from several directions -- bad weather, more expensive feed and medicine, transport costs and the cost of running generators during power cuts. Some say they are reducing production to contain their losses.

Cost of Laying an Egg

In Ba...