By Asif Khan
KARACHI (February 28 2004):The poultry business in the city has started to pick up again after facing a severe crisis on reports regarding the alleged outbreak of bird flu, which caused a loss of over Rs 1 billion to the sector in a span of one month, traders and industry sources said here Friday.

“The poultry sector has gained 10 percent of its lost business in the current week, as sales of chicken meat and eggs have started to pick up,” said Maroof Siddiqui, an official of the Pakistan Poultry Association (Sindh Zone).

During the downturn, the prices of live bird, layers and eggs went down by between 46 to 100 percent in both retail and wholesale markets. During the last month, the prices of poultry products in the city declined by up to 50 percent, while the prices of eggs have declined 69 percent since February 1 to Rs 480 per crate of 30 dozen. Live bird prices dropped 109 percent to Rs 22 per kg in retail markets during the same period. Live bird was sold at Rs 46 per kg on February 1. Layer prices have fallen 46 percent to Rs 30 per kg from Rs 44 per kg since February 1.

“The poultry sector is gaining its lost businesses gradually,” said Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui, general secretary, Karachi Wholesalers Poultry Association.

He added that the major buyers of chicken meat, including the four and five stars hotels, restaurants and caterers have started buying chicken meat again.

In addition to the five major hotels, there are also hundreds of restaurants in Karachi, who are major buyers of chicken meat and eggs. “The confidence of people on chicken meat is gradually reviving,” said a sales executive at the Pearl Continental, who asked not to be named. “Some days ago, customers refused to order chicken dishes, but now there is some improvement.”

However, he added that some people were still afraid of eating chicken meat. “There are still fears among the masses regarding chicken meat and they prefer alternatives,” he said.

And this fear has sliced consumption and hurt business. The daily consumption of chicken meat in the metropolis was 350,000 kg before the crisis, after which it was reduced to only to 100,000 kg. Some say this forced farms to sell products at less than their cost of production. Some traders said the cost of production of a crate of eggs was Rs 700, and a crate is being sold at Rs 480. Similarly, the cost of production of a live bird is Rs 46, but these have been sold at prices as low as Rs 22.

“I have lost four times business of chicken related dishes in a month, which is a huge loss for my restaurant,” said Iqbal Qasim, owner of a restaurant at Burns Road, a famous market of food in Karachi. He stated that the daily sale of chicken dishes at his restaurant used to be around 40 to 50 kg, but added that now the sale has come down to only 10 to 15 kg.

Poultry sector traders said that industry faced a loss of Rs 1 billion in the last month, and added that the figure will cross the Rs 2 billion mark in the next six months.

The Times