KARACHI: Prices of poultry products have risen by between Rs80 and Rs90 a kilogram in live bird and its meat since the Pakistan Pou­ltry Association (PPA) initiated a media campaign to counter allegations of All Pakistan Solvent Extractors Association (APSEA) regarding the import of soya bean meal from India and other countries which is doubtful to be halal.

Prior to advertisement of PPA in print media on Feb 15, poultry live bird was available at Rs120 per kg while its meat was selling at Rs220 per kg. Some retailers at that time were charging Rs140 for live bird and Rs250-260 for its meat.

Now the situation has cha­nged as retailers are now demanding Rs190 per kg for live bird and Rs290 for its meat, while another category of shopkeepers are selling live bird at Rs200 per kg while keeping its meat price in the range of Rs330-340 per kg.

A wholesaler said that poultry live bird prices in Punjab had also gone up by Rs35-40 per kg in the last eight days.

Consumers are taking costly ride in the absence of any effective price checking mechanism. The price regulator does not spare any time to check the prices whether they are artificially raised or based on genuine reasons.

Surprisingly, most of the consumers are not aware over the row between PPA and APSEA over the import of soya bean meal from India.

Buyers of consumers just only seek the reason from retailers over sudden sharp jump in prices. Retailers do not give a satisfactory answer except by saying that supply of birds from the mills have been short and live bird is also not coming from Punjab to Karachi.

They said supply is short but demand is going high due to ongoing marriage season coupled with outdoor dining despite a spell of terror attacks in the last 15 days all over the country.

A retailer in F.B. Area said the poultry farmers know the psyche of consumers who believe that poultry prices go down when some kind of disease or virus is going on. Poultry farmers keep prices high to keep the interest of buyers besides assuring that poultry is safe.

The retailer said that he finishes off his 200 birds more quickly in times of high prices while sales remain slow when prices are low. Around 800,000 birds are slaughtered in Karachi daily.

APSEA had demanded imposition of regulatory import duty of 35 per cent on imports of soya bean meal from India.

According to PPA, an opposition MPA had created a drama in the Punjab Assembly session in the first week of February by tabling a resolution that poultry available in the country is doubtful to be Halal because poultry feed being imported from India and other countries is adulterated with pork meat and pork fat and demanding all imports of poultry feed should be totally banned.

PPA said poultry feed has never been imported nor is currently being imported into the country from anywhere in the world. Perhaps the intention was to implicate the imports of soya bean meal from India. In the recent past no soya bean meal was imported from Wagah Border and the resolution tabled in the Punjab Assembly was without any evidence.

APSEA said why PPA does object to testing for port meat and other toxic and harmful ingredients in reputed labs if there is no chance of presence of any doubtful ingredients.

APSEA said it has no objection over soya bean meal imports from any other country in the world except India.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017