Retail chicken sellers have reported a 20% drop in sales as the early arrival of summer this year has hit meat consumption.
Industry insiders also point to the lower production of the birds contributing to the price hike. Poultry supply to the market is hit in the summer as birds die of heat stroke. Existing birds could be low-weight as they eat less during summer.
“Poultry mortality almost doubles in the summer,” said S N Raghunath of the Karnataka Poultry Farmers and Breeders Association. “If it is 5-6% during other seasons, it goes up to 10-12% in summer. The feeding levels of the birds also drop by 30% as they pant more in intense heat.”
A few weeks ago, a kilo of chicken had cost between Rs 200 to Rs 230, while now retail outlets are selling it at Rs 250 per kilo. Coupled with people’s apprehension to eat chicken during summer, selling poultry on the same day has become a struggle for traders.
Retailers manage to preserve the meat’s freshness the next day in other seasons, but the summer heat has made it difficult to preserve it. “We store chicken at a certain temperature in our chillers. In summer, if we do not sell chicken till the end of the day, it becomes stale,” said a vendor of Suguna Chicken in Kathriguppe.
Not just chicken, even eggs spoil if stored in unfavourable conditions. “We don’t have a specific cooling system for eggs,” said the manager at Venky’s chicken in Varthur. “Their usual shelf life is five to seven days, but they wouldn’t last more than three days in summer. But sales is not hit because people don’t stop eating eggs and it is used in almost all bakery items.”
Since monsoon is not far away, retailers hope business would get brisk soon. They also issue a warning that prices of eggs and chicken will remain marginally high if supplies dwindle and the demand increases.
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Published 19 April 2022, 19:30 IST