Sale dips amid bird flu scare

Sameer Singh
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, January 8

With the bird flu outbreak being reported in different states in the country, the sale and prices of poultry products have come down by around 40 per cent in the state.

Wholesalers of poultry products said even as prices had come down, retailers had reduced the orders significantly as customers were apprehensive about eating chicken and eggs now in the view of bird flu scare.

Balwinder Singh, a poultry product wholesaler operating in Bathinda for the past more than three decades, said, “Our daily sales of chicken and eggs have declined by up to 40 per cent in the past four days. While the wholesale rates of chicken have decreased from Rs 190 to Rs 158 per kg, the retail prices have come down from Rs 200 to Rs 160 now. Similarly, prices of eggs have also come down from Rs 666 to Rs 580 per 100 eggs. We are suffering losses.”

Another wholesaler in Mansa district said, “Last year, it was Covid-19 that kept buyers away from poultry products, and now it is the bird flu. The sales have declined considerably. Since it is just the initial phase of the flu, it is possible that the sales will decline further in the coming days.”

The sale of chicken in restaurants, hotels and dhabas has also been hit. The owner of a food outlet that sells cooked poultry products said, “People are scared of eating chicken and there is approximately 60 per cent fall in our daily sales now.”

Harmeet Singh, a city resident, said, “I am avoiding eating chicken meat and eggs now due to the bird flu scare. Though the guidelines say that if cooked properly at the right temperature,

there is no risk of catching the flu, nobody wants to take the risk. We can have eggs and chicken after the situation improves.”

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