Chicken prices in city markets are hovering in the range of Rs 220 to Rs 250 a kilo, shooting up by nearly Rs 50 in the last 10 days, traders and consumers said.
There is no immediate relief in sight as the supply constraint will take some time to correct itself, traders said.
Several poultry firms had stopped breeding in the first half of March when the demand and prices declined because of a rumour that the novel coronavirus spread through chicken.
By the time the demand picked up again, many firms had stopped production. Traders said it could take up to two months for the supply to normalise.
Also, transportation problems during the lockdown have hurt supply, further pushing up the prices.
Dressed chicken sold at Rs 230 a kg in Salt Lake’s BD Market this week. The prices were Rs 220 in Behala, New Alipore and Lansdowne, and Rs 200 in Maniktala and Garia.
In Gariahat, chicken sold at Rs 250 this week, a Ballygunge resident said.
“The price of dressed chicken varied between Rs 160 and Rs 170 a kilogram about 10 days back. On Friday, the price was Rs 210/220,” said Dipak Roy, a trader at Lansdowne Market. “The daily supply is half of what it used to be before the lockdown was imposed.”
Roy said he had heard from his suppliers that poultry firm owners had stopped breeding when prices nosedived in early March.
Several buyers said chicken prices hovered around Rs 150 in January and February. “I bought chicken at Rs 150 in January and February. Today, the price is Rs 200 a kilogram,” said Debayan Basu, a resident of Maniktala.
In early March, when there was a steep fall in prices, traders sold dressed chicken even at Rs 90 a kilogram in some places. Customers dwindled and retailers were desperate to sell whatever they had bought.
“It was during this time that many poultry firms stopped production to cut down losses,” said a trader.
The prices stabilised a few days after the lockdown began on March 25. By then people had overcome the fear that chicken consumption could lead to being infected with the coronavirus. But then the effect of a drop in supply - because of transportation problems and several poultries stopping production - could be felt.
An official of the West Bengal Poultry Federation said many poultry firm owners lost lakhs of rupees when prices nosedived in early March.
Madam Mohan Maity, the general secretary of the federation, cited another reason for the recent rise in chicken price — an increase in production cost during this time of the year.
“Usually a chick grows to weigh 1 kg after eating 1.8kg of food. But during summer, the animal needs 2.2kg or more food for gaining 1kg weight. This increases production cost and naturally the price of chicken in the retail market goes up,” said Maity.
