October 29, 2010

Pakistan's poultry industry suffers US$93 million loss due to floods

The recent floods in Pakistan have destroyed some 6000 poultry farms across the country, resulting in a loss of US$93 million to the industry, according to Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) chairman Abdul Hayee Mehta.

Mehta said that farmers were in the process of rehabilitating these farms at a self-help basis, but the government should extend soft loans to the owners of these poultry farms.

He also urged the government to remove the regulatory duty imposed on the imports of corn so as to ensure its availability for the poultry feed. He stated that corn constitutes 60% of the poultry feed, and that if the availability of corn was not ensured it would push its prices up and ultimately its impact would be visible in the prices of chicken meat.

Former PPA Chairman, Abdul Basit, said that at present the total production of corn was 3.6 million tonnes, and that total poultry feed production in Pakistan was 5.5 million tonnes per annum and it was consuming 2.18 million tonnes of corn. With ever-increasing feed production, it is estimated that production would soon reach 8.2 million tonnes per annum and the industry would require corn-feed supplies that are almost equal to present corn production.

Basit said this was the reason why the poultry sector is demanding for the removal of regulatory duties. He claimed that this would not hurt the local farmers as the industry was not demanding removal of regulatory duty due to prices, but only to ensure availability of corn for poultry feed industry.

Mehta also urged the government not to include the poultry sector in the proposed Refined General Sales Tax (RGST) regime as it is a food item and a source to provide quality and cheap protein to the masses.

He said that Pakistan's poultry industry was governed by the free market principles, where the prices of the chicken meat were determined by the gap between supply and demand.