The country’s poultry industry could face serious trouble caused by high production costs, according to the Mandalay Region Livestock Breeding Federation.
U Myint Oo, vice chair of the federation, said the price of chicks and feed remain high, although they declined slightly at the start of the month.
“Production costs are higher than the price of chicken, which hurts profits,” he said. “It is not easy to sustain the business in the long run,” he said.
“For each K10 million (US$6318) we invest, we can reap profits of about K1 million after a month and a half, so it is not easy for those who are growing chickens.”
“A viss [1.6 kilogrammes] of chicken costs K3200 and a viss of chicken eggs costs K2600. The spread between price and production cost is too thin,” he said.
But he said that those who produce feed and breed chicks can still survive.
He also noted that growers have to contend with high labour costs.
U Kyaw Htin, Myanmar Livestock Federation chair for Mandalay, said that although the price of chicks and feed has declined, some growers no longer have the capital to continue because of losses in previous months.
“After two or three price hikes, some people can’t continue in the business anymore. About 50 percent of chicken feed is imported,” he said.
There are an estimated two million egg-laying chickens and two million meat chickens in Mandalay.
Last year, the H1N1 and H5N1 virus scare led to lower chicken and egg consumption, which severely affected chicken farms.
SOURCE: MYANMAR TIMES
To see the original article click link here