Chicken has dropped by Rs 15 to Rs 245 per kg from Rs 260 as supply has outpaced demand in Kathmandu Valley for the last few days. [break]
A meeting of poultry entrepreneurs held Wednesday took the decision to lower the price of chicken in the Valley. With the revision in prices, farmers henceforth should get Rs 170 per kg and consumers are to pay Rs 180 per kg for live chicken.
“With the wide availability of chicks to farmers chicken production has shot up and poultry farms have been left full of chicken. With the rising supply, chicken price has declined,” said Gokarna Ghimire, president of the Poultry Farmers Association in Kathmandu.
Ghimire said the supply of live chicken is estimated to be 115,000 kg against the normal demand of around 75,000 kg to 80,000 kg during this season when demand is relatively low.
During the six-day strike announced by the UCPN (Maoist) poultry products had piled up at the farms.
Similarly, the supply of goats in the capital has also increased, dragging down the mutton price to Rs 500 per kg from Rs 600 during the six-day Maoist strike, when there was a halt to the supply of goats to the capital. Before the strike mutton was selling for Rs 550 per kg.
Giriraj Basnet, central secretary of Nepal Quadruped Traders Association, said the supply of goats to the capital went up to 7,500 head per week, up from 6,000 head per week a few days back.
“More than 90 percent of goats entering the capital are from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This is the lean season for the production of Nepali goats,” said Basnet. Live local and Indian goats are selling for Rs 250 and Rs 240 per kg respectively.
The price of water buffalo has remained stable at Rs 190 to Rs 220 per kg, depending on the quality of the meat.
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