Due to religious reasons leading to decline in demand, the poultry products prices have gone southward during last few weeks for the first time during six months. During the ongoing ?Sawan? month many consumers in northern India shift to taking vegetarian food which has pulled down demand.
According to Poultry Federation of India (PFI), the wholesale live weight broiler prices have declined to R58 per kg from R68 per kg. Similarly in the all major metros, the broiler prices have declined significantly during last four weeks.
This results in dressed broiler price declining to R100 ? 110 a kg in Delhi or NCR region from R120 ? R130 per kg . However, poultry farmers anticipate the demand to rise by middle of this month.
?The decline in demand for the poultry products is expected to reverse by middle of August after which we expect the demand to rise again,? Ricky Thapar, Member, Poultry Federation of India (PFI) told FE.
Even egg prices have declined during last month because of lesser demand. The wholesale price of one dozen eggs in Delhi has declined to R25 a dozen from R30 a dozen four weeks back. However, due to rise in poultry feed prices, the farmers? margins are being hit.
The feed cost has increased by more than 5% in last one month due to rise in price of soyabean meal .
The poultry feed mainly consisting of soyabean meal and maize has risen to R19,500 per tonne from R18,500 per tonne a month back. During the same period the soybean meal price rose to R17,100 per tonne.
A poultry farmer from Gurgaon said the poultry feed prices constitute close to 70% of the cost of production. The poultry feed prices witness fluctuations periodically depending on the production of maize and soyabean.The poultry industry estimated to be R35,000 crore has been growing at a steady pace. While per capita broiler consumption has increased from 146 gm in 1970s to 2.4 kg by 2010, the National Institute of Nutrition said.
This indicates that growth in poultry industry will continue in the country for many more years. Average growth of poultry in India has been more than the economic growth of the country except in the year 2009. In 2010, growth is around 14%. Annual growth rate in eggs is 5-8 %, whereas it is faster in broiler segment.
Major constraints affecting growth of poultry industry in the country is the lack of basic infrastructure such as storage and transportation including cold chains besides volatility in the poultry feed prices.