Notwithstanding the recent surge in egg and chicken prices, the poultry industry feels that consumers are in for good times because according to their assessment, poultry prices (chicken and egg) are expected to fall by December.
According to industry sources, poultry feed prices, which have been rising since August, have softened to a large extent and will further come down in December and this could pull down chicken and egg prices during the winter.
Poultry farmers who had scaled down their production in the June-August period because of te hike in feed rates have started operating at full capacity which will increase supplies and keep prices under check. Poultry feed, which mainly consists of soyabean meal, corn and supplements, is currently selling at Rs 14,000 per tonne against Rs 19,000 per tonne that prevailed in August.
Feed prices have stabilised since September because of record soyabean production, while corn prices have also come down due to a bumper harvest. ?Poultry farmers have been operating below their capacity as feed prices rose drastically five months ago,? Ricky Thapar, treasurer, Poultry Federation of India (PFI) told FE.
Due to a sudden rise in demand of poultry products in winter, the prices of egg and chicken in the retail market have risen due to supply constraints. For the retail consumer in Delhi, the price of a live-weight broiler is around Rs 65-Rs 70 per kg, while the price of eggs is Rs 36-Rs 38 per dozen as compared to Rs 45-Rs 50 per kg for a live- weight broiler and Rs 28- Rs 30 per dozen eggs in August. Thapar said that the prices would smoothen as poultry farmers have already started to increase their capacity to meet the rising demand in the coming few months.
He said that during the June – August period, the farmers lost money as feed prices went up while demand dipped forcing farmers to cut down on production. Similarly, corn prices have been in the range of Rs 8,000 – Rs 8,100 per tonne at present against Rs 9200 per tonne prevailed in August. The country?s soyabean production is expected to cross the 10-million tonne mark during 2008, a crop survey conducted by the Soybean Processors? Association of India (Sopa), a trade body recently said. The soyabean production rose to 9.4 million tonne during October 2006-September 2007 from 7.6 million tonne achieved in 2005-2006.
The country produces more than 2.0 million tonne of broiler chicken annually and is the fifth largest producer in the world. The country is largest producer of eggs with a production of around 44 billion. The sector grew at a rate of around 5%-7% for eggs and 10%-12% for broiler chicken till the May – June period.