Poultry prices soar as farmers slash output

Producers cite high cost of feed, other ingredients for rising price of poultry

RAWALPINDI:

Prices of poultry have gone up exponentially in Rawalpindi after poultry farmers and producers cut down supply by 50 per cent, citing the high cost of feed and other ingredients.

After the cut in the supply chain, the price of chicken meat has surged to Rs400 per kilogrammes (kg) and the upward trend in prices was expected to continue in the coming days. The supply has been slashed due to the high prices of feed, raw material and other ingredients given to chickens, poultry farmers claimed.

Poultry producers also claimed that the current high prices were because of an increase in the exchange rate of the dollar, which had subsequently increased the prices of the import components of the poultry industry.

With the sudden rise in rates, restaurants and hotels in Rawalpindi have also increased the prices of chicken food items.

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The live chicken is being sold for up to Rs280 per kg in Rawalpindi while eggs of shaver chicken were being sold for Rs177 while eggs of desi chicken were available for Rs325 per dozen.

Poultry association representatives, including Arshad Abbasi and Sohail Satti, said that the prices of eggs will further go up as winter is approaching. They said that eggs of shaver chicken will go up to Rs220 per dozen in the next two months while those of desi chicken will go up to Rs 400 per dozen.

Earlier, the Rawalpindi district administration held talks with poultry farm owners to bring down chicken prices, but the latter refused to increase the production. The poultry farm owners said that the price of the raw material used for chicken feed has gone up by 30 per cent after the Pakistani rupee depreciated against the dollar.

The owners told the local administration that they have slashed the breeding of chicken owing to the high cost of feed and other ingredients, which has led to the gap in demand and supply. Retailers including Raja Javed, Haji Niyaz and Barkat Ali said that the chicken supply in the market was 50 per cent less than the demand and they go out of stock in the middle of the day.