October 26, 2009

Rising festive demand and the gradual onset of winter in several parts of India has resulted in a sharp rise in demand for poultry products.

 

The rising demand, coupled with stable feedmeal prices in anticipation of a fall in soymeal prices, has pushed up the margins of thousands of poultry traders across India.

 

According to Poultry Federation of India (PFI), poultry feed has stabilised at around Rs16,500 per tonne since the last few weeks as against a high of Rs19,000 per tonne in August, largely because of flat soymeal and corn prices.

 

In the wholesale markets of Delhi, soymeal prices have been stable at around Rs17,600 per tonne while corn prices have also remained flat at around Rs10,280 per tonne.

 

Poultry traders said their margins have improved as whole prices of live weight broiler has increased to Rs70 a kg from Rs60 a month ago, while egg prices have jumped by around 15 percent in Delhi to Rs2.5 per piece at the wholesale market.

 

Margins are expected to improve further as demand is expected to rise during winter months, said Ricky Thapar, spokesperson of PFI.

 

But there are doubts as to how long the margins can remain healthy as soymeal prices are projected to rise because of low production.

 

Indore-based Soyabean Processors Association of India recently estimated that the India's soy production in 2009-10 might fall by 10 percent to 9.7 million tonnes despite a marginal rise in acreage, as delay in onset of southwest monsoon over main soy growing states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan could impact yield.

 

With the soy crop starting to arrive at processing plants, the poultry industry said fresh soymeal would arrive in the market by mid November.

 

India's poultry industry consumes nearly 15 million tonnes of feed annually, which is valued at around Rs15,000 crore.

 

US$1 = Rs46.36 (Oct 26)