The prices of meat have been rising in India as vendors and suppliers have been trying to balance the increasing demand with the erratic supply. Stringent measures against vehicular movement coupled with rumours over COVID-19 have drastically affected the supply of meat across India. However, with most of India at home and with restaurants and meat shops shut, customers have been turning to e-commerce websites for their supply of chicken.
In Bengaluru, currently, the wholesale rate of chicken is 90/kg whereas the retail rate stands at Rs 150/kg.
“The demand for chicken has been increasing. However, we have not been able to supply because there has been a shortage of feed. The feed for chicken, like soybean and maize, needs to come from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and that has been affected since the movement of trucks has been minimal. Whatever feed is available right now, we have been feeding that to the chickens,” said Dr G Devegowda, president, Institution of Veterinarians of Poultry Industry (IVPI).
Fake news that eating chicken can increase the risk of getting infected by coronavirus and the recent bird flu outbreak have also affected the sales of chicken.
“A month ago, a fake message pertaining to chickens and coronavirus had also affected the sale of chicken. Plus, the lockdown was much more severe in the first phase and thus the production of meat had dropped. The wave of bird flu had also affected the smaller birds. When the situation got desperate, rearers had to sell their chicken for Rs 10 per kg as well,” Dr Devegowda added.
Meanwhile, mutton in Bengaluru is being sold at a wholesale rate of Rs 700 per kg. In rural areas, while the sales have not been affected, the sales in urban areas have been affected since movement has been restricted. “Since butcher shops are closed, a lot of people have not been able to source mutton. Before lockdown, there was proper supply. There was actually a rise in demand for mutton, there was a 13-15% hike in mutton sales two months before lockdown. Around Ugadi, the prices of mutton had risen to Rs 900,” said Lokesh Gowda, president of Karnataka State Sheep and Goat Farmers’ Co-operative Society.
With the butcher shops across Bengaluru being mostly shut to follow social distancing norms, e-commerce portals have seen a rise in requests of home delivery of meat. However, stringent lockdown measures have meant that supply is not coming in at full capacity.
Speaking to TNM, Nishanth Chandran, founder and CEO of Tendercuts, an online meat store, said that once the lockdown was imposed, the demand increased as many consumers were home and thus were ordering in more. Earlier, the e-commerce website would witness a majority of home delivery orders on Sundays, now it has been evenly spread across weekdays, something he says is a new trend.
When the lockdown started, things were difficult because on one hand, the demand increased by three-four times and supplies, which are mostly cross-border, especially seafood, were down by 75%. When the lockdown was announced, many delivery partners left for home and thus last-mile deliveries were affected, Nishant added.
“The chicken supplies only took a day or two after the lockdown to get resolved, it started at 80% level and now it is almost at 90%. When it comes to mutton, however, the supply took a hit, it was almost nothing for 10-12 days. Today, we are at 70% stability level. When it comes to seafood, in the case of freshwater fish, slowly as the logistics were sorted, the supply stabilised and we are now at 50%. We are yet to make progress when it comes to sea fish since there were curbs on fishing amid COVID-19 as well,” Nishant stated.
He said that usually inventories are opened at 5 pm, and within one to two hours, all the stock is booked. This is the kind of demand we are seeing.
"While things on ground have certainly eased a bit, inter-city and inter-state transportation is still a concern. A lot of our employees returned to their hometowns on the day of the lockdown, and though many are keen to return to work, they may not be able to do so till specific arrangements are made for their movement. However, given all the on-ground limitations, we have continued to deliver fresh chicken to our customers via our e-commerce and other online services. This is largely due to our fully integrated back-end operations wherein we own our own hatcheries, feed mills, breeding farms, processing centre, food factory, cold chain infrastructure and retail stores,” Narendra Pasuparthy, founder and CEO, Nandu’s Chicken told TNM in a written response.
In Chennai, meanwhile, the price of mutton per kg is currently at Rs 1,200. A mutton vendor in Chennai told TNM that they have been sourcing mutton supply from Andhra Pradesh, and hence transportation costs also need to be factored in.
The supply of chicken has dwindled in Chennai too. Last month, the price of 1 kg chicken was Rs 120, but now the prices have shot up due to the increased demand. The rumours of bird flu affected the sales early last month, but now the rumours of chicken spreading coronavirus have stopped many people from purchasing chicken altogether,” a meat vendor in Chintadripet told TNM.
Due to the fishing ban in place, only small quantities of fish are reaching the market, he added. One kg prawn is being sold at Rs 350 at the Chintadripet market, he said.