VISAKHAPATNAM: Broiler chicken prices shot up and reached an all-time high in Andhra Pradesh while the price of egg remained normal. This is despite the abundant availability of sea and freshwater fish.
Retailers said the skinless chicken was being sold at Rs 290 a kg while the live birds were sold at Rs155 per kg. The country chicken prices are stable and sold at Rs 600 a kg.
The prices began moving up since midweek of February due to the hike in prices of ingredients in chicken feed, farmers said. The state produces around five crore birds per month and the average demand for chicken meat is around 10 lakh kgs per day in Andhra Pradesh.
The popular retailer in MVP Colony K. Subba Rao said one lakh birds were sold on Sundays while 20,000 were sold on weekdays in Visakhapatnam city.
North Andhra Poultry Farmers Association president Thataraju Appa Rao said rice bran oil, mixed in the chicken feed, was being quoted at Rs 145 per litre which was just Rs 100 last month. Similarly, the cost of maize rose to Rs 2,500 per quintal which was Rs 1,800 last month.
“This is the harvest season for maize and yet the prices are being quoted high,’’ Appa Rao said.
He said each chicklet was being sold at Rs 45 which was just Rs 35 two months ago. The farmers had pruned their production due to high input costs and as a result the meat cost went up, he said.
“Chicken at Rs 290 and mutton at Rs 900 per kg will soon become out of reach for the middle class,’’ Akula Seshagiri Rao, who consumes chicken five days a week.
