Chicken prices have fallen by Rs 30 per kg as poultry farmers are clearing their inventories before Eid-ul-Azha, Poultry Market Committee sources told Business Recorder here on Saturday. They said that retailers are selling chicken meat at Rs 130 per kg against past week's price of Rs 160 per kg. Broilers farms rate is Rs 84 per kg and retailers are selling eggs at Rs 70 per dozen.
They said chicken meat demand would sharply decline after Eid-ul-Azha, as majority of people would store mutton/ beef of the sacrificial animals sufficient for a month. Former Chairman Pakistan Poultry Association Abdul Basit said the poultry farmers have had a good crop in October due to favourable weather and abundance of imported grand parents to feed the 25,000 poultry farms across the country, 73 percent of them in Punjab.
He said a poultry is a perishable commodity, therefore the farmers cannot retain their stocks for an indefinite period and thus they had to dispose off their stocks in a limited time. Basit said Pakistan's Rs 350 billion poultry industry is very fragile and highly dependent on so many natural and man-made factors. He said chicken prices are the driving force to keep prices of other kitchen items stable. He said mutton prices have already gone out of reach of the poor consumers who are now dependent on the chicken meat for protein and other nutrients.
He emphasised that the government should satisfy the poultry farmers by not imposing reformed general sales tax (RGST) on poultry inputs like electricity, feeds, etc so that prices of poultry products remain affordable to the common man. In reply to a question as to why chicken meat prices are high in Karachi as compared to other parts of the country, Basit said that law and order situation in the Mega City and unstable weather conditions do not permit poultry farm to flourish in and around the city.