September 13, 2010

Indonesian poultry farmers face scarcity of DOC broilers

Poultry farmers in Indonesia are currently facing the problem of a scarce supply of DOC (Day Old Chicks) of broilers.

The effect of this scarcity is leading to an increase in on-farm live bird prices and then broiler carcass prices. The price of broiler carcass in the wet market and big retails in Jakarta has jumped from IDR25,000 (US$2.779) to IDR45,000 (US$5.002). This increase happened when Ramadhan started in mid-August.

Some poultry farmers in West Java said that the cause of DOC supply's scarcity is because of the rising number of new poultry farmers. These farmers just take advantage of the Ramadhan month only, meaning that they are just temporary poultry farmers.

The farmers believe that the price in the Ramadhan month and the concluding Eid ul-Fitr will be high. Consumer behaviour in Indonesia, specifically Muslim in celebrating Eid ul-Fitr, means that poultry meat consumption is higher during this time. In conclusion, these farmers will affect the normal supply of DOC of broiler chicken.

Besides that, Djody Hario Seno-Head of Broiler Association (PPUB) said that because of the scarcity, many brokers of DOC of broiler chicken also contribute to increasing the price of broiler DOC's.

"In normal days, the price of broiler DOC per chick is just around IDR4,000, but because of the scarcity, the DOC price of broiler increases by around IDR7,000 per chick. The reality is poultry farmers still pay the high price in order to fill their farm capacity," he explained.