January 17, 2023

 

Pakistan poultry prices fall as feed consignments at port released

 
 

 

Live broiler chicken prices in Pakistan dropped by about PKR 100 (~US$0.44; PKR 10 = US$0.044) to PKR 350 (~US$1.54) per kg, and this downtrend is set to continue as the government releases more consignments of feed ingredients struck at Karachi port, Dawn reported.

 

Data from the Karachi Port Trust Shipping showed that nearly 7,000 tonnes of soybean seeds and over 6,000 tonnes of canola have been offloaded.

 

The price of live broiler chicken had crossed PKR 450 (~US$1.98) per kg, and the price of chicken meat had risen to PKR 850 (~US$3.73) per kg as a result of the feed mills' inability to supply the needs of poultry farms. A 50 kg bag of chicken feed cost over PKR 7,000 (~US$30.76) due to a shortage of soybean meal, an increase of about PKR 2,000 (~US$8.79) in just three months.

 

Mian Tariq Javed, president of the Punjab Poultry Farmers Association, said allowing direct imports of soybean meal would be the best way to prevent similar crises in the future, and would promote competition among oil mills.

 

Around two million tonnes of soybean meal are consumed annually by the 113 mills in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the 13 feed mills in Sindh and Balochistan areas.

 

Tariq Bashir Cheema, Pakistan's Minister for Food Security, said the choice to ban imports of seeds containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was because they were poisonous and unfit for human consumption.

 

Nine ships, five carrying canola and four loaded with soybeans, were consequently confined at Karachi ports, resulting in a shortage of a crucial raw material for chicken feed.

 

The All Pakistan Solvent Extractors' Association (APSEA) said that all exporting nations, including the US, Brazil, and Argentina, produce genetically modified soybeans.

 

-      Dawn

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