KOCHI: The rise in price of chicken has affected the hoteliers, who are already hit by the Covid pandemic.
The price of chicken, sold by vendors, on Monday was around Rs 155 per kilogram as against Rs 130 around 10 days ago. Vendors say the price will rise again along with the rising temperature in the coming days. Increased mortality of chickens due to rise in temperature, shortage of drinking water and rising price of chicken feeds are the main reasons for the soaring prices.
“The price of chicken has been rising for the past two weeks. The rise is due to shortage in the stock of chicken. We don’t know whether the price will rise again,” said Jojo, a chicken vendor in Kochi.
The soaring price has put a big dent on the revenue of the non-vegetarian hotels as they have been trying hard to overcome the impact of the Covid pandemic. The state government has started bringing in more relaxations as Covid cases have started dropping steadily. Hoteliers and vendors say the price of chicken, which fluctuates every now and then, can be brought under control only when the production in Kerala is increased. They say the poultry farm lobbies in Tamil Nadu are controlling the price and they decide on when to drop or increase the rate.
“The chicken price has gone up at a time when the hotels are starting to get business after the lull create by the pandemic. The domestic production of chicken in Kerala should be encouraged. Government should interfere to prevent the exploitation,” said Kerala Hotel and Restaurants Association general secretary Jayapal G.
While poultry traders said hotels have increased the rate of chicken items with the rise in price of chicken meat. However, once the price of the meat comes down and the farmers also reduce the amount, the hoteliers refuse to bring down the price of chicken items. They say the price of chicken recorded a 10% increase in the past 10 days with each day witnessing a rise of Rs 2 to Rs 8.
“The price of raw materials used in the feed has increased drastically over the past few weeks, leading to the rise in price of chicken meat. Soya and millet are used in the chicken feeds and the price of these items has increased due to the shortage in availability. The production of chicken also dropped due to rising temperature. In a farm where there were around 10,000 chickens earlier, the number has come down to around 5,000 now due to rising mortality in the summer,” said poultry farmers and traders association joint secretary Siyad Anchal.
