February 11, 2025

GHBellaVista

Imagination at work

Bird flu outbreak hits poultry prices; sales plummet in North

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

Charges of poultry merchandise this kind of as rooster meat and eggs have taken a beating more than the past pair of times as consumers have started off shunning them.

Charges decline

In North India, the steep decline in offtake has impacted the costs, explained Ramesh Chander Khatri, President of Poultry Federation of India (PFI).

“The farm-gate costs of rooster have started off falling drastically in the previous number of times. While the cost was involving ₹90 and ₹100 a kg previous 7 days, it is now remaining bought for ₹50-55 a kg. Even the consumption is down by virtually 70 for each cent,” Khatri explained adding that this was primarily because of to avoidable scare remaining designed by the media that poultry consumption could guide to contracting the an infection.

Daily offtake suffers

In accordance to Khatri, the each day consumption of rooster in North India, on an regular, is close to two.five crore kg. PFI has more than two,000 customers, which include numerous key poultry farms in the region.

Khatri explained the scare has also prompted a dent in egg consumption in north India. Both of those consumption and costs have gone down by fifteen to twenty for each cent given that the instances had been claimed, he explained.

Md Imran Sharef, who owns Al-Maaz Food items at Asia’s greatest poultry current market at Ghazipur in Delhi, way too, agreed that rooster costs have occur down drastically. “Chicken costs have been fluctuating broadly in the previous number of times. The costs are a little up now and we are selling it for ₹60-65 a kg,” Sharef explained.

Layer birds, ducks & crows

Hen flu is verified in six States – Haryana, Himachal, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, in accordance to Section of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD). There was some abnormal mortality of 16 birds in a DDA (Delhi Growth Authority) park in south-west Delhi, but the samples are sent to the National Institute of Superior Safety Animal Disorders in Bhopal. In most States, barring Haryana and Kerala, bird flu was verified possibly in crows or in migratory birds. In Haryana’s Barwala (Panchkula district), layer birds had been identified to be impacted, even though in Kerala’s Idukki and Kottayam districts the an infection was identified in ducks.

Khatri, who has his workplace at Sonepat in Haryana, explained, “it was layer birds not broiler birds that are impacted in Panchakula. Besides, the an infection are not able to spread considerably and broad from an infected poultry farms. Birds any where further than three-five km away from the farm are totally secure.” He also explained that virtually 50,000 birds in these farms have already been culled.

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

Southern circumstance

Meanwhile, in South also, poultry sector has occur below stress in Telangana and Kerala. “Prices of broiler rooster have fallen by five-ten for each cent in some spots of Hyderabad. The egg costs (at the farmgate) fell to ₹4 a piece from ₹4.sixty early this 7 days,” a poultry farm owner explained. The retail charge of rooster is ruling five-ten for each cent reduced than previous week’s cost of ₹200/kg.

Though the consumption has not been impacted substantially, Telangana poultry has endured in the sort of slackened desire from other States. “We are 1 of the top a few poultry gamers in the region. Though the bird flu has not impacted the birds right here, it did damage the consumer sentiment,” an formal of Telangana Poultry Federation explained.

Slack desire

Binny Emmatty, president of Poultry Farmers and Traders Samithy in Kerala, explained that the consumer conduct in the direction of rooster meat and eggs has lessened the retail desire and there was a twenty for each cent fall in product sales in the previous two times.

Kerala consumes 1 crore kg of rooster for each 7 days valued at ₹100 crore. Of this, 50 for each cent of the output is satisfied from the State alone.

TP Sethumadhavan, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Section, Kerala, explained that they have initiated appropriate outreach programmes to make recognition amid consumers on poultry merchandise.

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