Farm gate prices of live-weight broiler chicken birds have fallen sharply across the country to a range of Rs 74 – Rs 85/kg from Rs 115 – Rs20/kg prevailed three months ago because of higher production compared to a sluggish demand broiler chicken and poultry meat and eggs..
Industry sources said that in anticipation of higher demand the firms pushed up production, the broiler chicken demand has not been robust as predicted thus bringing down the poultry prices.
Though a fall in Indian poultry prices around this time of the year is not uncommon, the sharp fall in poultry prices in the range of 64% to 70% is causing concern to the Indian poultry industry because of higher poultry raw material feed cost.
High poultry feed raw material prices, which constitute 65-70% of poultry meat production, push up cost, while the demand has slackened in the last few weeks.
The demand from Indian poultry meat products is expected to rise in coming weeks, the surplus production is likely to keep the poultry prices at the current level.
The retail prices of broiler chicken have seen a decline to around Rs 240/kg in Delhi region from Rs 260/kg prevailed three months back.
Current poultry feed raw material which mostly consists of maize or corn and soymeal is ruling around Rs 37,000/tonne which is at the same level a couple of months back.
Excess production is likely to keep poultry prices at the current level despite rise in the projected demand of broiler chicken and poultry meat and eggs.
Retail inflation in meat rose by only 2.15% last month on year. The prices of broiler chicken declined by 0.84% last month on year from 2.66% in October.
The poultry sector in India is valued at more than $ 28 billion in 2021-22.
The growth in the Indian poultry sector in the country has been attributed to the commercial poultry industry which accounts for 85% of production while the rest of 15% of the output comes from the traditional backyard poultry.
Source – financial express
