Bird flu outbreak hits poultry prices; sales plummet in North

The scare triggered by the outbreak of avian flu claimed in 6 States has started off impacting the beleaguered poultry sector.

Charges of poultry products and solutions this kind of as rooster meat and eggs have taken a beating above the earlier couple of days as customers have started off shunning them.

Charges decrease

In North India, the steep decrease in offtake has impacted the price ranges, stated Ramesh Chander Khatri, President of Poultry Federation of India (PFI).

“The farm-gate price ranges of rooster have started off slipping significantly in the past number of days. While the cost was amongst ₹90 and ₹100 a kg past 7 days, it is now remaining marketed for ₹50-55 a kg. Even the usage is down by almost 70 for every cent,” Khatri stated incorporating that this was generally because of to unneeded scare remaining created by the media that poultry usage could lead to contracting the an infection.

Everyday offtake suffers

In accordance to Khatri, the everyday usage of rooster in North India, on an typical, is all around two.5 crore kg. PFI has above two,000 customers, such as numerous significant poultry farms in the state.

Khatri stated the scare has also triggered a dent in egg usage in north India. Both equally usage and price ranges have absent down by fifteen to twenty for every cent considering that the circumstances had been claimed, he stated.

Md Imran Sharef, who owns Al-Maaz Meals at Asia’s biggest poultry market place at Ghazipur in Delhi, way too, agreed that rooster price ranges have arrive down significantly. “Chicken price ranges have been fluctuating extensively in the past number of days. The price ranges are somewhat up right now and we are selling it for ₹60-65 a kg,” Sharef stated.

Layer birds, ducks & crows

Chicken flu is verified in 6 States – Haryana, Himachal, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to Section of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD). There was some uncommon mortality of 16 birds in a DDA (Delhi Advancement Authority) park in south-west Delhi, but the samples are sent to the Nationwide Institute of High Safety Animal Disorders in Bhopal. In most States, barring Haryana and Kerala, fowl flu was verified both in crows or in migratory birds. In Haryana’s Barwala (Panchkula district), layer birds had been discovered to be impacted, whilst in Kerala’s Idukki and Kottayam districts the an infection was discovered in ducks.

Khatri, who has his workplace at Sonepat in Haryana, stated, “it was layer birds not broiler birds that are impacted in Panchakula. Aside from, the an infection can’t spread far and vast from an contaminated poultry farms. Birds any place further than 3-5 km away from the farm are completely protected.” He also stated that almost 50,000 birds in these farms have previously been culled.

The DAHD assertion stated the an infection was discovered in some migratory birds in Junagarh district in Gujarat and the Bhopal laboratory has verified it was avain flu.

Southern state of affairs

Meanwhile, in South also, poultry sector has arrive beneath stress in Telangana and Kerala. “Prices of broiler rooster have fallen by 5-10 for every cent in some areas of Hyderabad. The egg price ranges (at the farmgate) fell to ₹4 a piece from ₹4.sixty early this 7 days,” a poultry farm operator stated. The retail fee of rooster is ruling 5-10 for every cent reduce than past week’s cost of ₹200/kg.

Though the usage has not been impacted a lot, Telangana poultry has suffered in the variety of slackened demand from customers from other States. “We are a single of the leading a few poultry gamers in the state. Though the fowl flu has not impacted the birds in this article, it did harm the consumer sentiment,” an formal of Telangana Poultry Federation stated.

Slack demand from customers

Binny Emmatty, president of Poultry Farmers and Traders Samithy in Kerala, stated that the consumer conduct in the direction of rooster meat and eggs has decreased the retail demand from customers and there was a twenty for every cent fall in product sales in the past two days.

Kerala consumes a single crore kg of rooster for every 7 days valued at ₹100 crore. Of this, 50 for every cent of the output is satisfied from the Condition by itself.

TP Sethumadhavan, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Section, Kerala, stated that they have initiated appropriate outreach programmes to produce awareness amongst customers on poultry products and solutions.

(With inputs from KV Kurmanath in Hyderabad and V Sajeev Kumar in Kochi)