The Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) North Zone has appealed to Punjab government to avoid interfering in prices of poultry products so that its balance of demand and production could improve and people can get quality and cheaper protein.
The Association said that it will also help to increase the chicken production in the province which was constantly declining in the recent past and interference with the price may decline it 20 per cent more.
PPA North Vice-Chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Fargham in a statement said that the Punjab government on May 07, 2020, had fixed the broiler chicken meat rate at Rs 260 per kilogram. He said poultry industry representatives held many meetings with the government representatives to stop fixation of poultry prices. They submitted that if the price is fixed at Rs 260 per kilogram, it will have a dangerous impact on the production and in next two months it will decline by another 20 per cent while it had already declined by 30-35 per cent during the last three months. They were of the view that in the near future when life will return to routine after Corona end, the production would be declined by 40 per cent while demand from present 60 per cent would increase to 80-90 per cent and meat prices will reach Rs 350-400 per kilogram creating a crisis-like situation.
Chaudhry Fargham also claimed that the poultry industry was selling live chicken at Rs 70-80 per kilogram for the last many months and had borne the loss of millions of rupees. Many poultry units have been shut while the Punjab government has been conveyed many a time that fixation of chicken meat price is illegal. He said that the production price of live chicken meat is Rs 160-170 while meat production price is Rs 260-270 per kilogram. He was of the view that consumption has declined drastically due to closure of hotels and restaurants and not holding of any religious functions. He said that after repeated meetings, the government on May 20 agreed to take back its decision of fixing the rate and interference of the government in this mechanism. But the price was again fixed after two days which became impracticable due to less supply.
The PPA further said that the government should understand that chicken meat is sold at lower rates in 10 months of the year while only during two months poultry farmer earns profit due to demand and supply principle. It said that the industry could not be run forcibly and the government should avoid fixing the chicken meat prices.
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