Prices of eggs and poultry products have dropped by 20-30 per cent in different parts of the country following an outbreak of bird flue in a few pockets, including Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.
. Suresh Chitturi, Chairman of Srinivasa Farms, said this phenomenon is only in urban areas. “Prices have fallen by 25-30 per cent over the last few days in Hyderabad,” he said.
Prices of eggs, too, have declined to ₹150 (per 30 eggs) on Thursday from ₹180 three days ago in Hyderabad. However, a National Egg Coordination Committee spokesperson in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, said egg prices are ruling stable in most parts of the country. In Tamil Nadu, the current rate is ₹465 for 100 eggs.
“Prices have taken a hit in Andhra Pradesh around West Godavari. In Tamil Nadu, consumption was down during Thai Poosam but demand has now picked up,” the spokesman said.
While the poultry industry contends that bird mortality is quite common around this part of the year, chicken retailers said fears of the disease was palpable. “Footfalls have fallen by at least by 50 per cent since Monday,” a retailer in Gandhinagar area of Hyderabad said.
Sushanth Rai, immediate past president of Karnataka Poultry Farmers & Breeders Association (KPFBA), said there is a slight dip of around 10-20 per cent in prices over the past week.
With a few villages in East and West Godavari reporting positive cases, the Andhra Pradesh government has announced a quarantine of the areas and deputed over 700 teams across the State to monitor the situation and check the spread of the disease to other areas.
A poultry industry supplier in Chennai said prices of live birds lifted at farm gates have dropped to ₹80 a kg from ₹90-100 over the past couple of days. “Chicken producers recently hiked the prices but after the bird flu incidences, they are down,” he said. There are other reasons too for the drop in prices.
February-March usually sees a drop in demand due to exams. In addition, the Ramadan fast and Easter Lent period are approaching. “These developments usually affect demand and it is another reason for the fall,” the supplier said.
KS Ashok Kumar, former President of KPFBA, said as of now, the entire Indian poultry market is on a lower scale because of Kumbha Mela as many people go vegetarian during this period.
“Market will be little on a lower scale till the Kumbha Mela ends. I think, post-Kumbha Mela the market will be very good,” he said.
Likely rebound in 45-60 days
With farms in Andhra and Jharkhand likely to cull birds and cut production, prices will likely rebound in 45-60 days as demand will likely return, the Chennai supplier said.
Rai said there was no incidence of bird flu in Karnataka as most integrated farms take care of complete biosecurity, and avoid unauthorised persons in farms.
Kumar said the issue of bird flu will recur until a good vaccine is found for it. The only solution for this is biosecurity, and most poultry farms in the country are bio-secured.
Kerala on upward trend
Contrary to the trend in some parts, poultry prices in Kerala are on an upward trend with farm gate prices reaching ₹100 per kg from ₹60 three months ago.
“With summer setting in, prices are likely to move up further because of high mortality rates of broiler chicken in extremely humid conditions coupled with non-availability of chicks for rearing,” Pramod TS, secretary, Poultry Farmers and Traders Samithy said.
(With inputs from A J Vinayak in Mangalore, V Sajeev Kumar in Kochi and Subramani Ra Mancombu, Chennai)
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