Amdadul Haque
The impact of the novel coronavirus has caused a massive collapse in the poultry industry across the country with the whole sector affected.
Bangladesh’s poultry farmers are incurring losses in billions of taka due to a sharp drop in demand, production and price during the coronavirus shutdown, an industry spokesman says.
At the same time, raw materials used in the poultry industry are stuck at the port because the country's only poultry research and training centre is closed at present. The BPICC said the present situation amid shutdown has caused havoc in the poultry industry. Though rice and lentil prices have increased, that of broiler chicken, one-day-old chicken and egg have dropped significantly.
Besides, the sale of poultry processed products has plummeted by 95 percent. People have started avoiding consumption of chicken and egg amid the coronavirus outbreak which is resulting in chicken prices dropping by as much as 75%.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, industry insiders said the local poultry industry and related businesses are facing massive financial loss due to the virus outbreak.
The Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council (BPICC) has claimed that the country's poultry industry has lost more than 1150 crore taka due to the coronavirus.
According to BPICC, the losses of hatchery and processed traders is at least 458 crore taka, feed traders 75 crore taka, commercial poultry (eggs, poultry) 503 crore taka, processed industries 31 crore taka and medicine traders 83 crore taka.
Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh (FIAB) President Ehtesham Shahjahan said, “if the feed mills are closed every day, a lot of losses have to be incurred. Employees have to pay workers salaries without work.”
He said, “In this situation, the whole poultry sector has collapsed. Now only the government can keep this sector alive. For this we are seeking help from the government. In particular, this sector needs to be monitored.”
Mashiur Rahman, the president of BPICC said, “daily losses will be in the region of Tk 1 billion if the situation doesn’t improve. It will take at least a month for the market to get back to normal,” he sought economic relief from the government.
"The consumers cannot go to the kitchen markets due to the government-imposed lockdown, significantly bringing down the demand for meat, egg, and other processed food," he said.
Poultry sector insiders say if the current trend continues, 50% of the small farms out of 70,000 farms will be forced to close their businesses, while the medium and large ones would be forced to cut down their production or shut down completely.
The farm owners said their businesses have been severely affected in the past two weeks. They claimed that the cost of producing an egg is 6 tk. Besides, the production cost of broiler chicken is over Tk 70 per kg.
According to BPICC data, following the detection of coronavirus in the country, production of poultry and fish feeds fell by 75%. The unit price of the Day-One-Chick (DOC) came down to 1 taka from the production cost of 35 taka and the sale of processed poultry food declined by 95%.
A month after the lockdown, poultry traders are still running business at a loss. In Dhaka, broiler chickens are being sold at 130 to 140 taka per kg, but the price is half that on farms. The chicken is being sold at 60 to 70 taka per kg on the farm. So broiler chickens are being sold in Dhaka at twice the price of that in farms.
Farmers say that the production cost of one kg of broiler chicken is 110 taka. But 60 to 70 taka per kg is being sold there. This time, the farmers think that it will never be possible to make up for the losses incurred by the poultry traders due to coronavirus. Many are thinking of giving up this business.
Hasan Ahmed, a poultry farmer of Moulvibazar told this correspondent that he has 2500 chicken farms. Chicken has to be sold at a much lower price as communication is cut off due to coronavirus. It costs them 100-110 taka to make one kg of chicken but they are selling it for 60-70 taka only. The loss is about 40 taka per kg of chicken.
Poultry farmer Fokhrul Isam of Juri upazila said, “our production cost of chicken is around 105 to 110 taka per kg. At this time of Ramadan, the retail price of chicken is Tk 130 to 140 taka per kg and wholesale at 120 taka per kg. But due to the coronavirus situation, one kg is being sold at a wholesale price of 65 to 70 taka only.
Owners of poultry farms are not aware of any ministerial instructions. They say nobody goes to the farms because of transportation problems. No cooperation of the administration is available in this regard. Instead, the police are creating various obstacles for the chicken transports to go from one place to another. Drivers also do not want to drive due to various obstacles on the way. As a result, not enough chickens are coming to the city from the farms. For this reason, farmers have to sell chickens locally at a loss.
As well as hatcheries, farms, feed mills, pharmaceuticals and other equipment manufacturers in the poultry industry are closing down due to the lack of price, the chicken on the farms are now poison for the farmers. As it is not sold due to lack of wholesalers, extra cost has to be incurred for chicken feed. Feed mills are closing down due to lack of raw materials. Demand for poultry medicine and other ingredients has declined.
Surman Ali, owner of a hatchery in Sylhet, said, “farmers are not raising chickens out of fear of coronavirus. Those who have been continuing hatcheries are losing every day. If this situation continues, one day all the hatcheries will be completely closed. Most of the hatcheries in the area have already stopped production.”
According to some traders and farmers, the prices of chicken and eggs have come down in the market. Besides, many people are not raising new chickens on the farms fearing a poultry feed crisis in the coronavirus situation. As a result, there is no demand for baby chicken and feed. Besides, feed mills are not able to import their required raw materials.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim said at a press briefing that all measures have been taken to prevent further damage to the poultry and dairy industries. He said that according to the advice of the World Health Organization, it is necessary to take nutritious food to increase the body's immunity during the coronavirus crisis. Therefore, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock is taking all measures to keep up the supply of milk, eggs, fish and meat.
The Minister of Fisheries and Livestock said that a letter has been sent to the administrator, home ministry and cabinet department for keeping uninterrupted production of eggs, one-day-old chicks, poultry, poultry and dairy products, livestock products, fish, fish foods, transportation and marketing of poultry.
