KARACHI, Sept 28: Poultry live bird prices have touched a new peak of Rs74 per kg at the retail stage as per official rates quoted by the Karachi Wholesale Poultry Association (KWPA), but retailers are charging Rs76-78 per kg in various localities of the city.

Till September 1, the price of broiler live bird was Rs60. It rose to Rs64 on Sept 17, Rs66 on 21st, Rs70 on 22nd and Rs74 on Sept 24. The price poultry meat now ranges between Rs115 and Rs120 per kg as compared to Rs100-105 on Sept 1.

In the absence of any check by the price regulators, the retailers now enjoy a free-hand to charge prices on their own.

Market sources said that as Ramazan was hardly a week away, the people associated with this business were trying to create an artificial shortage so that prices could reach a saturation point and force the city government to fix the prices for Ramazan at the higher side.

It has been a general practice that the prices of all items peak ahead of Ramazan and the city government officials often remain asleep to the negative developments taking place ahead of Ramazan and usually wake up when the prices go beyond affordable levels.

KWPA general-secretary Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui tries to defend the price hike, saying that poultry is not a hot selling item of Ramazan and the hike is triggered by a production fall of 25 per cent at farms all over the country.

Live bird becomes hot selling just few days ahead of Eidul Fitr when people throng poultry shops to procure the merchandise in bulk quantities in order to make special dishes for Eid day. On ‘Chand Raat’ retailers enjoy a field day and demand more than the official price quoted by the KWPA and the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA).

According to a press report published on Sept 15, the KWPA officials had assured the city government of a price cut by 10 per cent in poultry products during Ramazan. But Mr Siddiqui denied any such commitment made by the association with the city government officials. “I had protested before the price regulators against this false news,” he said, adding that he had informed the city government officials that poultry products were not a hot selling item of Ramazan, therefore the demand to cut prices was baseless.

He said the production of bird had plunged to 300,000-325,000 from 350,000-400,000 birds per day at Karachi’s poultry farms. Sindh produces 450,000 birds per day, which is 22 per cent of the total production in Pakistan. In Sindh, production has fallen by 25 per cent, he adds.

“We are getting a day-old chick at Rs23-24 now as compared to Rs20 a week back,” he said, adding that poultry feed prices had jumped to Rs725 per 50-kg bag from Rs629.

Mr Siddiqui said that the normal breeding cost of a day-old chick ranges between Rs10 and Rs12, but hatchers charge Rs23-24.

The government and the price regulators, he said, should take steps to check chick prices and come out with a package so that the cost of production could be minimized.