LAHORE: The chicken meat price witnessed a sharp decline of over Rs90 per kilo in the city market in a week.

The white meat was selling for Rs365 per kg on March 7 that dropped to Rs270 on March 15 -- a difference of Rs95 per kg within eight days. The price registered a fall of Rs45 within a day as the meat was selling for Rs315 per kg a day ago.

Multiple reasons are being cited for the price fluctuation, including a social media campaign urging consumers to boycott the white meat for two weeks to force the market manipulators to bring down its price to make it affordable for the low-income groups, who cannot buy the costlier red meat.

The sharp drop of Rs45 per kg in a day is being attributed to the government’s announcement of banning large wedding ceremonies and dine-in facilities at restaurants and hotels, which claim a large share in the chicken market, as a precautionary measure to check the rapid spread of coronavirus.

The Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) had been predicting that the white meat price would stay over Rs300 per kg for at least a month. It had argued that many players had left the poultry business after recurring losses because of restrictions on marriages and hotels in the wake of Covid-19 since March 2020.

Defending higher prices of white meat, Khaleeq Arshad, owner of a value-added chicken meat company, argued that new investors in the sector needed months to meet the supply shortfall caused by the closure of around 30 per cent poultry farms.

But, interestingly, the PPA lacked data, or was not ready to share if available, of the volume of chicken meat demand for the Punjab capital.

The price of eggs is, however, resisting any drop and staying at around Rs165 per dozen notwithstanding the setting in of the summer season.

It had relented a bit in mid-February when eggs were selling for Rs150 a dozen. But, the poultry product again began to see an upward trend and has been hovering around Rs165 per dozen since then.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2021