“Poultry industry is in the grip of a severe crisis due to an unprecedented and unreasonable increase in the price of maize, which is the most crucial ingredient of poultry feed and accounts for more than 80 per cent of the cost of production of eggs and broilers," it said.

NECC said that though the current price of eggs and chicken in the retail market may be perceived by consumers to be high, poultry farmers are actually losing more money now compared to last year, as the break-even levels for production have gone up because of high price of maize. For example, the break-even level for egg production has increased from Rs 1.30/egg last year to Rs 1.60 and for broiler production the break-even increased from Rs 28 per kg to Rs 34.

Normally, at this time of the year, maize price ranges between Rs 500 to Rs 550 per quintal. However, this year, it has gone up to Rs 900 and in some parts of North India it is as high as Rs 1000 per quintal. Such steep increase of 90-100 per cent over the previous year was never seen in the past 30 years of the industry’s history.

Source: The Indian Express