KARACHI: Amid low demand on account of closing marriage season in summer ahead of the month of Ramazan, poultry industry stakeholders have played havoc with the prices.

Dealers in various areas have increased broiler meat price by Rs30-40 per kg and are selling it at Rs350-360 per kg.

Live bird price which was selling at Rs230 per kg has been jacked up by Rs10-20 per kg over the past few days.

Some retailers are seen demanding Rs400-420 per kg for meat and Rs240 per kg for live bird claiming it is “high quality” as compared to other retailers.

Like past practice, many retailers have displayed the official price list to avoid fine from government officials, but the list has so far proved to be just a piece of paper providing no relief to consumers.

Retailers display official price list, yet fail to abide by it

Surprisingly, the official rate of meat and live bird is Rs301 per kg and Rs194 per kg respectively on which neither the live bird nor the meat is available.

Consumers are surprised over substantial increase in chicken rates during the summer when food consumption also comes down, while marriage season is also coming to an end before Ramazan which is starting from the first week of May.

Supply & demand

However, outdoor dining between Fridays and Sundays remains as usual.

General secretary of the Sindh Poultry Wholesalers and Retailers Association Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui defended the price hike.

He said the supply from the poultry farms had dwindled against the ongoing demand.

Quoting different rates from markets, he said live bird price had surged to Rs200 from Rs160 followed by hike in meat rate to Rs280 from Rs230-240 per kg over the past 15-20 days.

He said the rupee devaluation against dollar in the interbank/open market rate coupled with rising diesel and LPG prices had nothing to do with the poultry price hike.

“Despite increase in rates, poultry is still cheaper than beef and mutton,” he said.

Irrespective of poultry rate fluctuation, owners of barbecue shops, fried chicken and biryani outlets have pushed up food prices, which they will not bring down whenever the live bird price falls.

Owners of biryani outlets have increased per plate biryani price to Rs130-150 from Rs110-130, while average biryani plate of Rs80 is now being sold at Rs100.

Similarly, the price of one chicken tikka or a quarter broast (leg and chest piece) now hovers at between Rs180-220 as compared to Rs160-200.

Vegetables rates

In vegetables, some relief came in the shape of tomato and green chillies over the past two weeks while other green vegetables showed mixed price trend.

Tomato price has plunged to Rs50-60 per kg from Rs120-140 per kg.

Green chilli rate has also come down to Rs140-160 per kg from Rs240-320 per kg.

However, the current rate of green chilli is still much higher as it is used to sell at Rs120-150 per kg a month ago.

The price of tinda (apple gourd) further has swelled to Rs160 per kg from Rs120 per kg while earlier in March it was selling at Rs50-60 per kg.

Lady finger/okra and bitter gourd (karela) are selling at Rs160 per kg against the price of Rs120 per kg of 15 days ago.

The rates of turrai (ridge gourd) and lauki (bottle gourd) have remained unchanged at Rs120 per kg and Rs80 per kg, respectively.

Earlier in March, turrai and lauki were selling at Rs80 per kg and Rs60 per kg respectively.

There was no change in the rate of peas, selling at Rs70-80 per kg which was available at Rs40-50 per kg in the first week of March. Good quality onion is selling at Rs40 per kg which was Rs30 per kg in March’s first week.

The price of potato, which crashed to Rs20 per kg in the second week of March, has recovered to Rs25-30 per kg.

No price change in the past two weeks has been recorded in carrot and aubergine, selling at Rs40 per kg and Rs50-60 per kg respectively. The same were available at Rs30 per kg and Rs40 per kg in first week of March.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2019