Prices of chicken and eggs have crashed by up to 30% with residents staying away from poultry products in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Even as there is no scientific evidence to show that coronavirus spreads through eating meat products, shopkeepers say due to the outbreak scare, their sales have dropped by over 70%, forcing them to reduce the prices.
Meat shops across the tricity are now selling chicken broilers for ?160 against ?220 earlier in March, while a tray of 30 eggs, which earlier cost up to ?150, is now being sold for ?90.
In Chandigarh, meat shops are allowed to be open from 11am to 3pm, while in Mohali and Panchkula shopkeepers are selling poultry products through home delivery.
Atul Sonkar, president of the Chandigarh Meat Market Welfare Association, Sector 21, Chandigarh, said, “We are facing the worst times in our business as the demand for chicken has dropped greatly due to the coronavirus fear. Even, eggs are seeing fewer sales. False information on social media is misleading people and affecting our business,” he said.
Vikas Kumar, owner of Meat Master in Mohali, said ever since the curfew was imposed in the city, they were receiving minimal orders for chicken and eggs. “The price of the 30-egg tray has dropped from ?130 to ?90, while chicken broiler is being sold for half the price since there are no customers,” he said.
‘UNPRECEDENTED SLUMP’
Poultry farmers say they had never seen such a slump in business. The poultry industry in Barwala-Raipur Rani belt feeds Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and even Uttarakhand, Uttar Pardesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam.
Sandeep Punia, a farmer in Ambala’s Nagla village, said his wholesale business had been on a decline since February. “We are compelled to sell broiler for ?20 per kg, whereas the rearing cost is ?80. We are incurring losses in the sale of eggs as well. Earlier, we were making ?2.5 per egg, but now it is just ?1.8 per egg,” he added.
President of the Haryana Poultry Farmers’ Association, Barwala, Darshan Singla said, “Barwala belt is the largest poultry producer in the region. In the past one month, the egg producers of Barwala have lost ?500 crore due to the coronavirus scare.”
