KARACHI: Following the outbreak of the lumpy skin disease in cattle, the demand of poultry meat has increased in the metropolis pushing prices of live bird and its clean meat to an alarming high of Rs330-336 per kg and Rs 570 per kg, respectively.

Boneless chicken meat costs over Rs 700 per kg depending on the area. The chicken meat (with and without bone) is getting closer to the rates of veal meat (with and without bones), available at Rs750 and Rs850 per kg, respectively.

Some dealers are too smart in dealing with consumers. They seek Rs20-30 per kg extra if he/she insists on buying only a clean chicken breast piece. However, the price of per kg chicken meat without giblets is Rs480-500.

In the first week of February, live bird was available at Rs190-210 per kg while the meat was sold at Rs350-380.

Rate of per kg boneless meat crosses Rs700 mark in Karachi; commissioner fails to enforce official price list

As per the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), the price of chicken all over the country during the week ending March 3 had risen by 10.47 per cent week on week.

In the same period, the rate of live chicken bird in Karachi was Rs300-320 per kg, while the rate in Islamabad was Rs 265-275 followed by Rs258 in Sialkot, Rs246 in Lahore, Rs261 in Faisalabad, Rs252 in Gujranwala, Rs250 in Sargodha, Rs285 in Larkana, Rs268 in Islamabad, Rs290-300 in Hyderabad, Rs290 in Multan and Rs268 in Peshawar.

For the last two years, the Karachi commissioner has kept the price of live bird and its meat unchanged at Rs138 per kg and Rs214 per kg, respectively, in the official price list.

The officials concerned failed to enforce the official price list. Retailers, however, do not display the official rates at their shops and demand different prices in various areas.

The central chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association, Dr Rana Sajjad Arshad, said: “PPA has clearly mentioned in its website that it has no role in the rate fixation of poultry and poultry products.”

However, he said multiple factors caused the hike in poultry prices including an increase of general sales tax from five per cent to 17pc on soya bean meal. He said 17pc GST had also been imposed on poultry medicines and vaccines.

The general secretary of the Sindh Poultry Wholesalers Association (SWPA), Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui, was of the view that the prices might go up further as people would likely to shift from beef to chicken meat.

He claimed that the retail price of the live bird and its meat was Rs300 and Rs440 per kg, while breast piece cost Rs560-570 per kg.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2022