Pakistan's chicken prices cooling down

The arrival of new stock in Pakistan has forced down the record high poultry prices by PKR25.

Prices were sky high at PKR215 last week, but have now declined by PKR25.

Market analysts expect the chicken prices to stabilise around PKR160 soon, as the price of day-old chicks also fell from PKR80 per chick to PKR60 on Monday (Oct 5).

Abdul Basit, the former chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association, said that the old price of chicken meat below PKR150 per kg were uneconomical, forcing nearly 40 percent farmers to close down their farms after suffering huge financial losses.

Listing various reasons for spiral of chicken meat prices, Basit said the price of 50 kg poultry feed bag has gone up from PKR600 to PKR1,200 in a year, while prices of broilers and day-old chicks have also increased.

Basit added that the financial burdens of the poultry farmers were worsened by the currency depreciation against the dollar, and increases in electricity tariff and labour costs.