Hyderabad: Coronavirus triggers fall in chicken, fish sales

Hyderabad: The otherwise busy fish market in Ramnagar, now portrays a forlorn look. People have stopped buying fish fearing Coronavirus that is rapidly spreading. With the latest positive case in Kerala, vendors fear that sales would further dip. Several reports stating seafood as the reason for the outbreak of virus has furthered fear among people, said Ravi, a vendor at Ramnagar.

Retailers and hatcheries fear the same. Mohd Ahmed, owner of MFC Chicken and Fish shop at Ramnagar Fish Market, has seen a dip in sales of fish and chicken over the last few days. He says, "Before the news broke, we used to sell around 100 to 120 kgs of chicken and around 90 kgs of fish every day. However, the sales have gone down to 50 to 60 kgs of chicken and 30 kgs of fish on a weekday. The sales which were considerably high on weekends have seen a 50 per cent dip as well."

Another owner Asad Khan of MK Chicken and Fish shares, "Our Everyday sales before the reports released were anywhere around 120 to 150 kgs and on weekends were around 200 kgs which has now decreased up to 80 to 90 kgs every day from last week."