Latest price revision by valley-based poultry entrepreneurs on Sunday put the price of live chicken at Rs 110 per kg which is far lower than their production cost of Rs 135 per kg.[break]
“We are forced to bring down the price of live chicken as the valley is flooded with cheaper chicken from outside the valley. However, this price would not continue longer than one week,” said Narayan Hari Khattri, former president of Feed Industries Association.
Traders in the capital are sourcing live chicken at Rs 95 per kg from major poultry districts such as Chitwan, Makawanpur and Nawalparasi that are supplementing around 20 percent of the total demands for chicken in the capital. Earlier, live chicken was selling for Rs 120 per kg.
With the fresh revision in prices, consumers will have to pay Rs 145 for a kg of chicken in the capital. Poultry entrepreneurs had earlier lowered the price of chicken to Rs 160 per kg from Rs 170 per kg after bird flu was reported at a poultry farm in Bhaktapur a few weeks ago.
Daily consumption of chicken in the capital hovers around Rs 225,000 kg, according to Khatri.
Chicken production generally decline from winter until autumn, making poultry products dearer for customers. Poultry experts have projected a growth of 31 percent for the poultry industry for the next five months compared to the same period of last year. The projection is based on production performance recorded during the past seven months beginning mid-April.
Population of parent broilers has been projected to rise by 38 percent to 1.11 million heads over the period. Similarly, number of parent layers is expected to rise by 18.6 percent to 102,700 over the next six months.
The number of broilers is expected to shoot up by 30 percent to 75.1 million heads, while number of layers is seen growing to 8.3 million, up 41 percent compared to last year´s figure.
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