With mercury rising, price of chicken also soars high in Andhra

Prices have shot up as thousands of birds have died due to excessive heat.
With mercury rising, price of chicken also soars high in Andhra
With mercury rising, price of chicken also soars high in Andhra
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As temperatures continue to soar well above 40 degrees Celsius in Vijayawada and other parts of Andhra Pradesh, the state’s poultry are bearing the brunt of the searing heat.  

With the mercury shooting as high as 47 degrees Celsius for the past two weeks, prices of chicken have shot up drastically from the price of Rs 170 even two weeks ago. While Hans India reported that the price of a kilogram of chicken had risen to Rs 240, Deccan Chronicle reported that skinless chicken was being sold at Rs 246-256 per kg.

Jasti Ramesh, a poultry farm owner in Gannavaram, Vijayawada told DC that 30% of chickens weighing more than a kilogram had died as a result of the heat.

“As the adult birds, on which we the poultry farmers have already invested heavily, are dying we have no other option but to increase the prices to minimise the losses,” Ramesh told DC. He added that this was occurring despite taking precautions such as only transporting birds at night in vehicles covered with wet mats.

Hans India reported that in Krishna district alone, 5000 to 7000 birds had died, causing a massive dearth in supply. It added, however, that the price hike was driving customers away.

M Bahadur, a chicken trader at the Mahanti Municipal Market located in Besant Road, Vijaywada told Hans India that buyers are not purchasing chickens at exorbitant prices, with demand falling even on the weekend. This has put retail traders in a squeeze.

While the chicken prices have risen to a new high this summer, however, they are following a pattern that seems to be repeating across years. In April 2016, too, the price of chickens had shot up by Rs 40 per kilogram at the peak of summer. In May 2012 too, there were reports of prices rising by a similar margin in summer.

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