The Hindu : Business : Broiler supply to Kerala hit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 06, 2005

Business

Business

Broiler supply to Kerala hit

By M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE, APRIL 5. Supply of live broiler birds to Kerala from the district has come to a standstill for the last one week. The 12.5 per cent value added tax levied by Kerala on live chicken is said to be the main reason.

The Kerala traders purchase around 15 lakh birds a week from the broiler producers in the district. More than one-fourth of the broilers produced in the district goes to the Kerala market (total production here is 40 lakh birds a week). The broiler producers and traders in Kerala are on a strike for almost a week now and this has affected the supply, said the Broiler Co-ordination Committee President, K. Lakshmanan. Since Kerala was one of the main markets for the broiler producers here, the recent development had hit them hard. He explained that Kerala earlier had 8 per cent entry tax on live chicken. Under the central VAT system, the live birds attracted zero per cent duty. However, Kerala had brought it under the 12.5 per cent slab. "The BCC will decide its future course of action in a day or two," he said.

Though February-March was a lean season for broiler, the demand and prices usually picked up in April. The farm gate price today is around Rs. 25 a kg. The demand was picking up in the Tamil Nadu market and "We expect the price to touch Rs. 30 a kg in a week," he said. The supply to Kerala was also likely to resume in a day or two.

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