Rising poultry feed prices bleed industry

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Prices of poultry feed has risen significantly, owing to recent rains that have impacted the supply of maize. Supply of maize from key maize producing states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has been disrupted in a major way.

The price of maize, which rose to Rs 10,500 per tonne few months prior to the government imposing a ban on its export, is being sold at Rs 9,800 per tonne at present. According to poultry industry sources, the price of maize was around Rs 8,000 per tonne.

Rains have also impacted the transportation of maize to different parts of the country. Along with maize, the prices of soyameal-used along with maize to prepare poultry feed-have also risen sharply in the recent months. The soyameal prices have risen to Rs 21,500 per tonne from Rs 16,000 that prevailed last year. The next soyabean crop will only come by mid October. “We have petitioned the department of animal husbandry to ban the export of soyameal so that the prices of poultry feed come down,” Ricky Thapar, treasurer, Poultry Federation of India (PFI) told FE. According to PFI, as a consequence of rise in the prices of soyameal and maize, the cost of poultry feed has gone up to Rs 1800 per tonne from Rs 1200 per tonne prevailing last year.

At present, the cost of production of broiler per kilogram of live weight is around Rs 45 per kg and Rs 1.80 paise per egg. For the retail consumer in Delhi, the price of live weight broiler is around Rs 65 per kg. The retail price of egg in Delhi is in the range of Rs 30 - 34 per dozen while the chicken is selling at around Rs 100 - 110 per kg.

“Poultry is losing heavily due to rise in the cost of production and more than 20% of poultry farms have closed down,” Thapar said.

He also said that due to forthcoming festivals like Rakha Bandhan, Durga Puja, Navaratras among others, in the coming months, the demand of chicken and eggs will be adversely impacted as consumers do not prefer eating chicken and eggs due to religious reasons.