KARACHI, Feb 8: The Karachi Wholesalers Poultry Association held an emergency meeting here on Sunday evening and decided to curtail further the rates of the broiler chicken by Rs16 to make way for disposal of the stocks that have accumulated to over six million birds at about 5,000 poultry farms in and around the city.

The curtailed rates applicable from Monday are: wholesale Rs30 per kg and live bird and retail Rs32 per kg. The current wholesale rate of broiler chicken in Karachi is Rs46 per Kg while the retail price is Rs48 per kg.

"The need to reduce the prices further was felt because the decline in consumption of the chicken meat due to the scare of bird flue and the week-long closure of trade on the occasion of Eidul Azha, besides the increased breeding of broiler chickens during the winter, had affected the market," Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui, secretary general of the association told PPI.

"Owing to the above three factors, the supplies to the market had declined to 25 per cent of the normal daily trade of 3,50,000 birds during the last two weeks. However, the latest reports show an increasing trend in the supplies," he said adding that the supplies on Saturday were about 40 to 50 per cent of the previous normal daily supplies.

He said apart from the bird flue scare, the major factors behind the accumulation of stocks included closure of trade on the Eid and swift breeding. "The broiler birds get ready for marketing in 42 days in winter, while it takes 50 days in summer," he said.

He denied that the bird flu was harmful for human beings. "Besides, the kind of disease found in Karachi and its surroundings is of mild nature testified by doctors," he said.

To a query, he said that in view of the mild nature of the disease, no bird was destroyed in Karachi. To another question he said Pakistan did not export broiler chickens and eggs, therefore the question of loss on that account did not arise. "However, the export of hatching eggs has been affected," he added. -PPI