June 19, 2008

The wheat ban and getting left out of the federal budget 2008-09 are not the only problems faced by Pakistan's poultry industry, which is also slapped with high feed and energy costs as well as the government's policy on poultry import.

Poultry industry players feel that these combined factors are restricting the sector's growth.

Soymeal prices have more than doubled in one year and the cost of a poultry feed bag has soared to Rs1,100 from Rs600 within a short period of time, according to Abdul Basit, former chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association.

Poultry farmer Muzaffar Rizvi said the vaccination cost of broilers had risen from Rs5 to Rs8 per bird. Grandparent stock vaccination cost has increased from Rs25 to Rs40 while the cost of one-day-old chick rose to Rs20.

Rizvi said many poultry die if electricity goes off for more than an hour, especially in the summer, therefore farmers are forced to install generators to ensure a constant supply of electricity which adds to the cost.

Basit said import duty on grandparent stock was 5 percent and it should be removed as the stock is imported to prepare the parent stock. Duty on parent stock and one-day-old chicks are also 5 percent, but Basit felt that it is unfair as parents are produced in abundance locally. He suggested that the duty for parent stock and one-day-old chicks should be raised to 20 percent and 25 percent respectively.

US$1 = Rs 67.5 (June 19, 2008)