November 4, 2009
Pakistan poultry group denies existence of poultry cartel
The Chairman of Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) Dr. Aslam denied the possibility of any cartelisation in the poultry industry adding that poultry items could not be kept for a longer time to create artificial price hike of the commodity.
The prices of poultry items witnessed sharp increase as the chicken prices in open market was sold at PKR130-PKR150 (US$1.55-US$1.79) per kg, while the retail rates of the eggs were at PKR80 to PKR85 (US$0.96-US$1.02) per dozen.
The poultry industry had incurred huge losses during the last couple of years due to bird flu out break in the country, Aslam said.
The poultry production was reduced by 30 percent during last year and the industry continues to lose money, resulting in the closure of many farms in Pakistan, he said.
About 11 million birds were produced per week in 28,000 farms currently throughout Pakistan to fulfill the market demands, he said.
The farm rate of chicken was about PKR95-100 (US$1.14-US$1.2) per kg and it was available at PKR150 (US$1.79) per kg in the open market adding that the prices of chicken were reduced by PKR20-30 (US$0.24-US$0.36) per kg during last couple of weeks, he said.
The prices of chicken in the country were reasonable compared to other meats like mutton and beef. Chicken prices were also the lowest compared to the neighboring countries of the region, he added.
US$1 = PKR83.66 (Nov 4)
