Steep rise in poultry prices

The price of poultry chicken during the second half of the holy months of Ramazan reached Rs445 per kg and the price of poultry eggs reached Rs290 per dozen in the open market in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The meat of poultry chicken has reached prices of Rs650 to 660 per kg in the open market and the price of poultry chickens and eggs has been going for Rs445 per kg and Rs 290 dozen and higher since the last few months. The high prices are becoming more and more unaffordable for consumers by the day.

The prices of poultry items have increased by 30 per cent in the twin cities during the last month since Ramazan began, which has created great volatility in the market. According to a market survey, during the last two months in the twin cities, a 28 per cent increase has been witnessed in the price of poultry chicken, while a 30 per cent increase was observed in the price of poultry eggs in the same period.

The former Chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA), Dr Sajjad Arshad said that the increase in the current prices of poultry was due to demand and supply factors during Ramazan. He said that an increase was observed in poultry business inputs and cost of doing across the country due to which the market was in crisis.

Dr Arshad further said that the country's economic conditions are also an important issue. “The poultry feed ingredients imported from foreign countries are expensive. Soybean is an important feed product. However, since many soybean-carrying ships were stopped at the Karachi port, this has an inevitable impact on poultry prices”.

“The increase in poultry prices was inevitable which is why we have seen an increase in the prices in the twin cities,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2024.