Coronavirus Rumours Lead To Decline In Chicken Sales By Around 35 Per Cent, Broiler Prices Fall By Over 50 Per Cent

The sales of chicken have fallen by around 35 per cent in the recent weeks even as the government is trying to counter rumours that the deadly coronavirus can be transmitted by consuming it, reports The New Indian Express.

Earlier last week, the district magistrates in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow and Muzaffarnagar had issued orders to ban the sale of meat in open areas. Following this, many restaurants and hotels have put up notices asking consumers to not ask for nong-vegetarian products.

According to the report, several wholesalers and food companies said that the sales of chicken have declined by 30 to 35 per cent, adding that the prices of the broiler chicken have fallen by more than 50 per cent.

"It is because of irresponsible statements being issued by some government departments which has led people to exclude chicken from their diet," Rajiv Jaisinghani, Managing Director of Punjab-based Darshan Foods Pvt Ltd was quoted as saying.

Ever since the rumors surrounding Coronavirus started doing rounds on social media, Karnataka too has suffered a daily loss of about Rs 65 crore, said Karanataka Cooperative Poultry Federation’s president D K Kantaraju.

"From the first week of February, prices of chicken have come down to Rs 45 from Rs 75 per kg," he said.

Similarly in Maharashtra, the president of Poultry Farmers and Breeders Association, Vasant Kumar Shetty said that the decline in demand and price of livestock in the state has been leading to a daily loss of Rs 150 crore.

In Delhi, the prices of wholesale poultry chicken have fallen by over 45 per cent in the last four weeks in Ghazipur, which is the largest meat market in the national capital.

According to the report, some consumers said that they are avoiding chicken and meat consumption as a precautionary measure.

However, in a letter to the poultry Federation of India last week, the Animal Husbandry Commissioner Praveen Malik had said that poultry is not found to be involved in the transmission of the Coronavirus to the humans.