Officials of Nepal Chicken Sellers Association said they had to revise the price upwards due to short supply of chicken amid rising demand.[break]
Junga Bahadur BC, president of Nepal Chicken Sellers Association, said supply in the market can meet only 65 percent of the demand. “Daily demand for chicken in the Kathmandu Valley has climbed to 300 tons, but supply is hardly around 200 tons,” BC added.
Not only in the Kathmandu Valley, shortage of chicken has been felt all over the country, according to the association. “Poultry population across the country has come down after the government culled over 3 million chickens due to bird-flu outbreak a few months ago,” said BC. “This resulted into short supply of chicken in the market.”
The previous high of Rs 320 per kg was recorded in March this year.
“Though we have fixed rate at Rs 380 per kg, some retailers are already charging Rs 400 per kg,” BC said, hinting that price would rise further in the coming days.
Price of live chicken has also been increased to Rs 260 per kg.
BC said Nepal might have to lift its ban on poultry imports to check rise in chicken price. “Our major suppliers have not been able to supply even 50 percent of the total demand in the valley,” said BC.
Chitwan, Dhading, Nuwakot and Kavre are the leading suppliers of poultry products to the valley.
Meanwhile, Hari Narayan Belbase, director at Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM), said the country will not lift ban on poultry imports right away. “Nepal is self-sufficient in poultry products,” Belbase said, adding, “We only need to check irregularities to control prices.” He also accused poultry entrepreneurs of fixing prices on their own.
“Most of the poultry entrepreneurs have raised price to compensate for the loss they incurred during bird-flu outbreak even though the government had compensated them for every chicken culled,” he argued.
The government had provided farmers Rs 50 per culled chicken as compensation.
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