WILLEMSTAD - The price increase for eggs in Curaçao has come into effect Friday last week. Before that day consumers paid 4.88 guilders for a dozen eggs, now it is 6.36 guilders.
These are chicken eggs laid by a battery hen. They now cost 53 cents each, 12 cents more than before. Free-range eggs are not subject to price regulation.
The decision in the Council of Ministers follows a cry for help from the chicken farmers. Last month they sounded the alarm because they would no longer be able to keep their heads above water. The production costs can no longer be paid on the basis of the old price level.
The price of imported feed for the chickens in particular has risen sharply, but the price of chicks is also far above the level of recent years.