What is the price of a dozen eggs in Pakistan?

The daily rate quoted in the press is for cage-farm eggs and moves with the weather and feed costs. Genuine desi eggs run substantially higher and move far less. The table above separates the two with the date each was last checked.

Why are desi eggs so expensive?

A ranging desi hen lays a fraction of what a commercial layer does, over a longer life, with long pauses in the hottest months — and the eggs are collected in small numbers from many places rather than graded out of one shed. Fewer eggs and more handling is the whole of the difference.

Are brown eggs desi eggs?

No. Shell colour comes from the breed of the hen and tells you nothing about how she was kept. Brown cage eggs are common, and 'desi' eggs priced near the farm rate are usually exactly that.

Are desi eggs healthier than farm eggs?

The measured differences are real but modest, and they follow what the birds actually ate. Most of what people taste as a difference is freshness rather than the hen's life. The stronger argument for ranged eggs is how the birds are kept, which is a decision about what you want to pay for.

What is today's egg rate in Pakistan?

The daily figure quoted on rate lists is a wholesale price per dozen, announced city by city — Punjab publishes a provincial rate that is widely cited on its own. Retail sits above it. We publish observed ranges with the date they were checked; for today's exact number the district rate list for your city is the primary source.

Why is the egg rate different in Lahore and Karachi?

Layer farms cluster and eggs travel badly, so each city is supplied locally. The central Punjab belt around Lahore, Gujranwala and Faisalabad has the most layer sheds and generally quotes the lowest rates; Karachi draws from interior Sindh and the Punjab and usually runs above it; Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar sit higher again on distance.

How can I tell if an egg is still good?

Put it in a glass of water. Fresh eggs lie flat on the bottom, older ones tilt upward, and any that float should be thrown away. It is a test of age, which is what matters.

Egg Prices in Pakistan

Rates updated: 13 August 2026

5 min readBy Mehran Yusuf

The short answer

Three products get sold in the same shape of box. Cage-farm eggs are the rate quoted in the newspapers every morning. Desi eggs come from a village hen that walks around and eats what it finds, take longer to arrive and cost considerably more. Free-range eggs sit between the two and the term is not regulated here, so it means whatever the seller intends it to. We keep a ranged flock ourselves and sell their eggs by the dozen, so we know precisely what the gap between the first and the last is made of.

Egg rates by type

The daily egg rate you see quoted in the press is the cage-farm rate, and it swings hard: eggs are seasonal in a way people forget, because hens lay less in extreme heat and more in mild weather, and Sindh gets a lot of extreme heat. Desi rates move far less and sit far higher.

Eggs — observed ranges, PKR. Ranges, not fixed prices.
Item	Farm gate / mandi	Retail	Ours	Source
Desi eggs (free-range)†دیسی انڈےOur own flock, ranged daily	—	₨500 – 700 / dozen	₨600 / dozenOrder from us	Our farm
Farm (cage) eggs, white†فارمی انڈےThe rate quoted daily in the newspapers. Swings hard with the weather.	—	₨280 – 360 / dozen	We don’t sell this	National average
Farm (cage) eggs, brown†براؤن انڈےShell colour is the breed, not the diet	—	₨300 – 380 / dozen	We don’t sell this	National average
Duck eggs†بطخ کے انڈےReference only — we keep hens. Sold by weight in some markets, which makes the dozen price look erratic.	—	₨700 – 1,100 / dozen	We don’t sell this	National average

† Indicative. These rows are compiled from market knowledge and trade rates rather than checked by us this month, and we are working through them. Rows without the mark are either our own transactions or figures we have verified directly — that distinction is the point of publishing this at all, so we would rather show it than quietly average the two together.

These are ranges we observe, not fixed prices: rates move with city, season and quality, and a farm-gate figure is never what you pay at a shop counter. Where we sell the item ourselves, the price shown is the one you are charged at checkout.

Today's egg rate, and why it differs by city

The daily egg rate quoted in Pakistani newspapers and on district rate lists is a wholesale figure per dozen, announced city by city. Retail sits above it, and the gap is wider for eggs than for most goods because the last leg is short, fragile and handled by very small shops. A rate list saying one number and a shop asking another is normal rather than suspicious.

Egg prices are regional in the same way chicken prices are, and for the same reason: layer farms cluster, eggs travel badly, and transport adds cost quickly. The central Punjab belt around Lahore, Gujranwala and Faisalabad holds the densest concentration of layer sheds and generally quotes the lowest rates in the country, which is why the Punjab provincial rate is so widely cited on its own. Karachi is supplied from interior Sindh and the Punjab both and typically runs above it. Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar sit higher again, on distance alone.

Desi eggs are a separate market entirely and are covered by no official rate list. They come from small flocks in numbers nobody aggregates, they are priced by the seller rather than by a committee, and the spread between two shops in the same city is far wider than it ever is for cage eggs. Ours come from our own ranged flock, which is why that row carries our price rather than a national average.

Why desi eggs cost two to three times as much

A commercial layer in a controlled shed produces on the order of 300 eggs a year on a measured feed ration. A desi hen ranging in a village produces a fraction of that, on her own schedule, with a long pause through the hottest months and another when she goes broody. The bird also takes longer to reach laying age. Fewer eggs from the same bird over a longer time is most of the price difference, and no amount of marketing changes that arithmetic.

The rest of it is collection. Cage eggs arrive graded, cleaned and palletised from one shed. Desi eggs are gathered in small numbers from many places, in varying sizes, and a proportion break on the way. That handling cost is real and it is why genuine desi eggs are never cheap.

This is also why cheap 'desi' eggs deserve suspicion. If a box is priced close to the farm rate, the likeliest explanation is that they are brown-shelled cage eggs. Shell colour is a function of the breed and nothing else — a brown egg from a cage is still a cage egg.

What the difference actually buys you

Honestly: less than the price gap implies, if you are only counting nutrition. Published comparisons of ranged and caged eggs find differences that are real but modest, and they vary with what the birds actually ate rather than with the label on the box. Anyone claiming a dramatic nutritional gulf is selling something.

What does change reliably is the yolk — deeper coloured and firmer, from a varied diet — and how the egg behaves in the pan, because a fresher egg holds its white together instead of spreading. Most of what people taste when they say a desi egg tastes better is freshness, which is a function of days since laying rather than of how the hen lived. A week-old desi egg and a week-old farm egg are much closer than either is to one collected yesterday.

The clearer case for ranged eggs is how the birds are kept, and that is a judgement about what you want to pay for rather than a claim about your health. We think it is a reasonable thing to pay for. We would rather say that plainly than dress it up as nutrition.

Buying eggs sensibly

Ask when they were laid, not what they are called. A seller who cannot answer that is the answer. Keep them in the fridge once you get them home — Pakistani kitchens often do not, and in a Sindh summer that costs you a week of freshness. Store them pointed end down, which keeps the yolk centred and the air cell where it belongs.

The float test is the only home check worth running: a fresh egg lies flat on the bottom of a glass of water, an older one tilts up, and one that floats has enough gas inside it to be past using. It measures age, which is the thing that actually matters.

Common questions

What is the price of a dozen eggs in Pakistan?: The daily rate quoted in the press is for cage-farm eggs and moves with the weather and feed costs. Genuine desi eggs run substantially higher and move far less. The table above separates the two with the date each was last checked.
Why are desi eggs so expensive?: A ranging desi hen lays a fraction of what a commercial layer does, over a longer life, with long pauses in the hottest months — and the eggs are collected in small numbers from many places rather than graded out of one shed. Fewer eggs and more handling is the whole of the difference.
Are brown eggs desi eggs?: No. Shell colour comes from the breed of the hen and tells you nothing about how she was kept. Brown cage eggs are common, and 'desi' eggs priced near the farm rate are usually exactly that.
Are desi eggs healthier than farm eggs?: The measured differences are real but modest, and they follow what the birds actually ate. Most of what people taste as a difference is freshness rather than the hen's life. The stronger argument for ranged eggs is how the birds are kept, which is a decision about what you want to pay for.
What is today's egg rate in Pakistan?: The daily figure quoted on rate lists is a wholesale price per dozen, announced city by city — Punjab publishes a provincial rate that is widely cited on its own. Retail sits above it. We publish observed ranges with the date they were checked; for today's exact number the district rate list for your city is the primary source.
Why is the egg rate different in Lahore and Karachi?: Layer farms cluster and eggs travel badly, so each city is supplied locally. The central Punjab belt around Lahore, Gujranwala and Faisalabad has the most layer sheds and generally quotes the lowest rates; Karachi draws from interior Sindh and the Punjab and usually runs above it; Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar sit higher again on distance.
How can I tell if an egg is still good?: Put it in a glass of water. Fresh eggs lie flat on the bottom, older ones tilt upward, and any that float should be thrown away. It is a test of age, which is what matters.