Visakhapatnam: Chicken, egg prices skyrocket as demand-supply gap widens

Visakhapatnam: With a widening demand-supply gap, the price of eggs and chicken continues to shoot up.

For the last five days, the rate of egg and chicken is gradually increasing, and the poultry farmers foresee no respite in the coming days that might last for a month.

Initially, the outbreak of coronavirus has pushed many to chart out a meatless menu. Having come across umpteen number of videos that circulated on social media platforms about the goodness of vegetarian and plant-based food, some even went to the extent of giving up consumption of meat for good.

But the fight against the consumption of non-vegetarian food did not last longer since there's no scientific evidence of virus getting spread from animals to humans.

Currently, a kg of chicken costs Rs 240 and an egg Rs 6.50 in the market. The cost of both egg and chicken continues to be consistent in recent days. However, 20 days before, a kilo of chicken was priced below Rs 200. "Since chicken and eggs are rich in proteins, their consumption has gone up as a step towards boosting the immunity as there is no let up in the ever-increasing corona positive cases in the district," opines M Nagur, a meat seller.

In the initial days of pandemic outbreak, poultry farmers and traders incurred huge losses. But, with a steady growth in consumption of eggs and chicken now, both the farmers and traders began recouping the losses.

With rising concerns over coronavirus, several poultry farmers have brought down the production. "This is one of the reasons for the increasing gap between demand and supply of chicken and its subsequent price hike. Similar situation might continue until 'Karthika masam' where the price of the meat will considerably fall," says T Appa Rao, member of Greater Visakha Broiler Industry Welfare Association.

While the price of vegetables has increased following the rains and transport problems, the rate of chicken and eggs has gone out of reach of the common man.