MULTAN, March 27: With an acute shortfall in the broiler production in the southern Punjab, poultry meat and live bird rates have touched the highest-ever peak in the region.
Live bird is currently being sold at Rs86 per kg in the wholesale while earlier it was being sold at Rs45.
Similarly, broiler meat rates have increased to Rs150 from Rs80 per kilogram last month.
Consumers and retail outlet owners are totally upset at this situation, and experts believe that the bird flu threat forced breeders, hatchery owners and poultry farmers to slash their production.
It is a major setback to consumers who are paying the high cost of shortfall in poultry production.
A poultry farmer, Mohammad Imran, said although there was no justification of such high rates, farmers have no other option, but to compensate their huge losses.
He, however, said market forces decide daily rates, and it was not by choice when they have to sell their product at even low as Rs45 per kg.
Sarwar Abbas, another consumer, said broiler meat is being sold at Rs150, while in February he had been getting it at Rs80 and such a situation has affected consumers’ purchasing power.
He said it is time when Balochistan and Afghanistan are not lifting broiler from the southern Punjab, while rates normally jump in those days when heavy consignments are dispatched to the said areas.
A retailer, Javed Khan, said with high rates, the sale of live broiler and its meat has dropped to a significant level.
He observed that he is selling 400kg of broiler daily against the earlier average sale of 700kg.
Poultry feed distributors are expressing their mixed response over the situation and a distributor, Malik Haq Nawaz, based at Vihari Road, said rates touched the highest ever figure after the farming volume slashed to more than 60 per cent.
He said it is an abnormal upward trend and they are not supposed to encourage this situation, but the pricing mechanism is totally based upon the demand and production.
A poultry trader, Rasheed Ahmed, said rates further increase if supplies to Balochistan are restored.
He said extraordinary rates could prevail for more than a month till the production matches the demand.
