Dairy, poultry rates plunge as demand falls in twin cities.

RAWALPINDI -- With residents of the garrison city confined to their homes, barring a short period during the day when they can purchase essentials, many food retailers have seen a sharp decline in demand for their products. Consequently, this drop in demand has driven down prices of good such as milk and poultry.

The prices of milk and yoghurt have fallen by as much as Rs30 in recent days. Prices of poultry too have eased to almost a five-year low at Rs110 per kilogramme.

Mutton prices have dropped by Rs100 to Rs850 and beef has dropped by Rs50 to Rs400, traders said.

The rates of fruit and vegetable have also come down due to waning demand, they said.

Dairy traders, however, claimed that the price cut was voluntary, even though they overcharge government-regulated prices and threaten to strike if asked to sell milk and yoghurt at the controlled rates.

Milk was down from its maximum retail price of Rs110 to Rs80 per litre. Similarly, the prices of yoghurt dropped from Rs170 to Rs90 per kilogramme.

Retail Dairy Shops Committee President Chaudhry Khawar said that prices have been reduced to facilitate people during the lockdown.

He assured that the quality of the milk or yoghurt will not be compromised with the price cut. Khawar, however, said that the discounted prices will remain in place until the Covid-19 crisis is over and the lockdown ends.

Meanwhile, the poultry rates plunged to a five-year low, a representative of the industry told The Express Tribune.

Price of live chicken has dropped by Rs60 per kg. Broiler birds, weighing less than a kilogramme are being sold for Rs85, those weighing more, are being sold at Rs90 per kg. Those tipping the scales at 1.5kg or more are fetching Rs120 per kg or less.

Chicken meat rates have also come down from Rs248 on March 13 to Rs144 on March 27.

Chicken retailer Iqbal Mohammad attributed the downtrend to the closure of high demand businesses such as wedding halls, cooks, major hotels, food streets and barbecue centres.

Diminishing demand has brought down the prices, he said.

Poultry trader Nauroz Khan echoed that, noting that chicken sales have fallen to record lows and poultry farm owners now have excess stock at hand. If they do not clear the inventory, the poultry farmers will continue incurring costs of feeding their growing number of chicken.

Moreover, people do not like plus-size chicken, he said explaining that 1.5kg to 1.75kg was the preferred weight of the bird among the people in general.

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