February 23, 2004

 

 

Indian Poultry Sales Still On To Recover

 

Poultry sales in India have yet to return to normal status, despite no bird flu outbreaks in the country.

 

The price of eggs had dropped from Rs 145 per hundred to as low as Rs 80 during the peak of the bird flu scare.

 

It has bounced back, but only touched Rs 122 yet. "Trading has become more like gambling. No one seems to know for sure what the scenario is going to be like the next day," says Raju Jalgaonkar of 'Arora Poultry Products', adding, "It may take upto a month for things to get back to normal."

 

Chicken prices too remain in the doldrums. Swapnil Raut, the owner of 'Swapnil Eggs', said prices has dropped down from Rs 40-50 to as low as Rs 24-26.

 

M.B. Desai, chairman of the city chapter of the National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC), is more optimistic.

 

"From a loss of 20 per cent, we have come up to 10 per cent. I think that in 10 to 15 more days, things will get normal".

 

The NECC has been holding press conferences over the last month or so to spread awareness on the safety of chicken consumption, and is also planning to hold road shows.

 

They've even roped in Bollywood for their cause. Fardeen Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty lent their star power at recent press conference to say eggs are okay.