BENGALURU, 17 FEB

Chicken lovers in Bengaluru may soon see a hole in their pockets as prices of meat continue to get higher day by day. The rise in demand for chicken meat, the increase in feed costs along with premature deaths of chickens have all contributed to the price rise, according to poultry dealers in the City.

The price of chicken that were around Rs 220 per kilogram in January has increased to Rs 280/kg now and will rise to Rs 300/kg by March. “If the demand for chicken increases and the supply decreases or stays the same, the prices could rise,” said Mohammad Waseem, the manager of Karnataka Chicken Centre which has a couple of outlets in the City. “The prices will automatically come down if the supply gets better. The prices may vary from store to store.”

The supply of live chicken from suburbs of the City has come down, said Riyaz Ali from SLN Chicken Centre told Salar News. “Also, we have seen a significant rise in customers in our store for the past few weeks,” Ali said.

The cost of the feed given to chickens has been on the upswing for the last couple of days, pushing up the price of the chicken. “The maize and soya seeds are the staple feed for chickens and we buy them in bulk orders. The price of 50kg of maize, which was around Rs 950 a couple of weeks before, has shot up to Rs 1,500. The price for 50kg of soya seeds too increased, touching around Rs 2,050 now. This is why we charge more for the chicken meat as well,” said Nallappa Gowda, the caretaker of KH Krishnegowda poultry farm in the City.

The boneless chicken in Bengaluru, which was priced at Rs 300/kg at the beginning of the year, has increased to Rs 520/kg now. Prices for live chicken, country chicken and skinless chicken vary in different places in Bengaluru.

However, this price increase will not affect the chicken dishes served in eateries in the City. “Even though the prices of the meat have increased, we will not make any changes in the prices of the chicken dishes in restaurants and hotels. Those prices will remain the same,” said PC Rao, President of Bruhath Bangalore Hotels Association. —Salar News