Secretary Poultry Market Committee Javed Bokhari told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that broiler whole sales rate on 21 December was Rs112, retail Rs118, and meat Rs171 per kilogram, eggs Rs2910 per crate of 30 dozen, retail Rs99 per dozen.

Former President Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) and a prominent exporter of chicken meat Abdul Basit said that poultry farmers had been selling chicken at a loss of Rs50 per kg against their cost of production of Rs180 per kg.

He said the cost of poultry products has further increased with the enhancement of wheat support price by Rs100 per 40kg and frequent increase in electricity tariff and other inputs.

He said as demand for relatively cheap chicken meat is on the increase the small farmers are closing down their business due to uncertainty of their business and frequent financial losses.

Mr Basit said there are more than 25,000 poultry farms across the country which daily supply more than three million birds or 6,000 tonnes of meat to the consumers.

Poultry market experts say that poultry prices are regulated by demand and supply mechanism but the credit goes to the poultry farmers who continue to supply chicken meat to the consumers at reasonable rates as compared to prices of mutton and beef prices.

However, prices of mutton have decreased from Rs560 per kg to Rs540 after Eidul Azha in some parts of the provincial capital.