September 25, 2008

Poultry prices hit new peak in Pakistan

Farmers and wholesalers in Pakistan have pushed up rates to PKR126 per kg for live bird and PKR220-230 per kg for meat.

In the first week of September, poultry live bird and meat prices exceeded PKR116 and PKR200 per kg, respectively. However, the price had fallen in the second week of this month to PKR112 per kg but from 17 September, it again climbed to PKR118.

On 19 September, the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) pushed up prices of live birds to PKR122 per kg while the Karachi Wholesalers Poultry Association fixed the rate at PKR130 per kg, up by PKR4 per kg from the PPA rate. KWPA's retail meat rate is PKR220 per kg.

The PPA and KWPA always push up prices during Ramazan to grab maximum profit on the last two days of the holy month when people throng markets to buy chicken for Eid.

PPA's public relations official Abdul Maroof Siddiqui reiterated that the closure of 30 percent of farms in Sindh had resulted in price hikes of poultry as demand increases in Ramazan and that 80 percent comes from caterers and hoteliers during Ramazan while consumers' share of daily buying stands at 20 percent.

He claimed that out of 5,000 farms in Sindh, some 3,500 are operating while the rest closed down in the last six months as they could not sustain huge losses when prices went below their cost of production.

The demand of live broiler bird in Karachi hovers between 500,000 and 550,000 birds daily, but currently only 350,000-400,000 birds are being slaughtered owing to short supply from poultry farms, he added.

( US$1 = PKR 78.125)