The prices of chicken, which have been increasing continuously, touched Rs 195 per kg on Tuesday.
At the start of this month, the price of chicken was between Rs 130-140 per kg but it started increasing some 10 days ago. It is expected that the price would increase further in the coming days, followed by a fall, again.
The stakeholders of the poultry industry said the current price hike is for one or two weeks and it would come down as soon fresh stocks arrive. They said production of chicken has decreased due to very low prices but now once again the production would come to normal. The price of chicken is still less than beef and mutton and affordable for the poor. “The cost of breeding chicken has increased whereas its price has remained low therefore the farmers breed less chicken and it has caused supply gap,” said a farmer Mushtaq Ahmed.
He said it has become difficult for the farmers to breed chicken at such low rates. “The price of chicken in November and December remained between Rs 130-150 per kg and we sold the stocks at ‘no profit no loss’ but resolutely the farmers avoided breeding more stocks, which caused demand and supply gap.”
Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) Punjab former chairman and Export Committee Convener Abdul Basit said chicken prices never remained at one level and fluctuate throughout the year but always stay less than the price of mutton and beef. He said beef and mutton prices had gone up by 150 percent while chicken prices had only increased by 30 to 40 pc
