March 1, 2006

Pakistan's meat prices to soar if chicken prices fall

Traders in Pakistan are worried that prices of mutton and beef will be jacked up as chicken prices face a certain decline if reports of H5 type bird flu at two poultry farms turn out to be of the deadly H5N1 type.

Samples are currently being checked at a laboratory in Islamabad and the World Reference Laboratory of England.

Market sources said mutton and beef wholesalers were waiting for confirmation of of H5N1 to raise prices and urged the government to take urgent steps to control mutton and beef prices should there be an outbreak.

District coordination officer Mian Ijaz said town leaders had been urged to standardise prices in localities and rescind taxes on mutton and beef sellers.

Mutton is an important part of the Pakistani diet even in some low-income areas and a price increase for mutton would deprive people of meat, Ijaz said.