Though major poultry players cite increasing production cost as the reason behind the hike in price, a quick market survey reveal that their argument holds now ground. There has been rise in the cost of chicken feed ingredients like soybean, mustard cake, bone mill, medicine and nutrients. But the rise has been far less than the recent rise in chicken prices. Despite the rise, experts claim that the price should not have crossed Rs 200 per kg.
“As per our calculation, price per kg of dressed chicken should stand at around Rs 166 kg. The retail price should not have gone beyond Rs 200 per kg even if a hyper profit of Rs 36 per kg is added,” a poultry expect at the Department of Live Stock Service told myrepublica.com. He suspects that the poultry entrepreneurs are raising the prices of chicken to recover the financial loss that they faced when the first case of avian influenza was reported in the country some months back.
Jyoti Baniya, general secretary of Consumers´ Rights Protection Forum, attributes the rising price of chicken to ill-intention of cartelling by poultry entrepreneurs and sellers. “As per our calculation, price of dressed chicken should be between Rs 150 to Rs 170 per kg. The present price reflects nothing other than a perfect cartelling in poultry market. We urged the government to take strong action against those involved in exploiting consumers,” Baniya said.
However, poultry farmers narrate their own reasons for the rise. Gokarna Ghimire, president of National Poultry Farmers´ Association, a valley-based farmers´ forum, said sharp decline in supply along with rising cost of inputs led to the rise in prices of chicken. Ghimire, however, refused to buy allegations that price cartelling was the reason behind the hike. “How can there be cartelling on perishable goods like chicken?” Ghimire questioned.
Guna Chadra Bista, former president of Nepal Hatcheries Association, also agreed that the price of chicken was raise by poultry dealers in an arbitrary manner. "Retail price shouldn´t be in the range of Rs 225 to Rs 250 per kg, as poultry farmers are selling chicken at Rs 170 per kg," Bista said.
The main objective of recent series of price rise, according to Bista, was to compensate for the loss that poultry farmers faced when the outbreak of bird flu was reported in the country. “The impact is still on, as the production of chicken has dropped to 115,000 kg per day, which is roughly 50 percent lower than the level of pre-bird flu days,” said Bista.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
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