Poultry prices out of common man’s reach
PAKISTAN - For the common man in Pakistan buying chicken is no longer an option. Being sold at around Rs 80 per kg, the chickens have simply slipped away from an average earner’s reach.“I will not buy a chicken today. It is simply unaffordable. We used to have the luxury of chicken every Sunday, but when it was within our reach,” commented Arshad, going away empty-handed from the poultry shop after peeping at the rate list.
He said that while he could still buy chicken, it would upset his monthly budget. “In one hundred and fifty rupees I can buy several other important kitchen items and we are not dying without chicken.”
Citing supply shortage as a reason for the recent price hike, Dr Hassan Sarosh Akram, Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) chairman, says that the poultry industry needs to complete a 12-month cycle to produce another generation of broilers from the preceding one. Any disruption in this cycle leads to a supply shortage.
Last year’s bird flu scare severely dented the poultry industry severely in Pakistan. The impact of bird-flu on the local industry lasted for three months between January 2004 and April 2004 leading to a free fall of prices. As a result of this free fall approximately 35 percent of all poultry farms in the country closed down.
The PPA chairman claims that the poultry industry suffered a loss of Rs 6 billion because of bird flu rumours. The industry’s running capital is estimated at Rs 70 billion, while its fixed assets are Rs 60 billion.
Source: Daily Times