Chicken price rise puts hotels on tenterhooks in Ramzan run-up

Hyderabad: A rise in chicken prices this pre-summer has restauranteurs and catering service operators apprehensive as they fear it would impact their earnings.

Market experts said that the sales and price of broiler chicken decrease in the summer as consumers tend to avoid poultry believing that it increases body heat, and this subsequently, impacts the prices.

However, the trend has reversed over the past six years after poultry associations started decreasing the hatchings over the summer due to the increased costs involved.

Mohmaad Iqbal of Tawakal Poultry, at a semi-wholesale market, said live chicken costs Rs 158 each, meat with skin Rs 240, and skinless Rs 286, per bird. “Since the hike in rates is coinciding with the summer, our daily sale of between 700 kg and 1,000 kg has fallen to 500-600 kg.”

Market experts said that the price will rise further given the month of Ramzan will start in two weeks, during which chicken sales increase, among other meat.

Md Ibrahim Khan of Al Madina Hotel said, “This increase will affect us as the prices on the menu are fixed and we cannot compromise with the quantity. As the prices are high, we have to compromise with the profit. Sometimes, there is no profit on the dishes too, adversely affecting the catering market too.”