Poultry owners in Nigeria are not having a swell time in this year’s festive period, as sales of live chickens dropped significantly.

According to the special edition of the Christmas Household Survey conducted by Nairalytics Research, the price of Chicken witnessed an average of 40% increase this December when compared to the corresponding period of 2019, as more Nigerians switched to frozen food items.

According to this survey, the high cost of Chickens in this year’s festive period across major markets in Lagos State, was significantly driven by the high cost of poultry feeds. Major poultry farmers and chicken sellers lamented the hike in price of chicken this Christmas period and attributed it to the increase in the cost of poultry feeds.

Key Highlights

• Customers now prefer to buy frozen food items instead of regular chicken due to the increase in the price of chickens.
• The price of a carton of frozen Chicken, however, recorded a marginal increase in price from N15,000 recorded last week to N15,500 on Thursday 24th December 2020.
• Price of poultry feeds has gone up by 50% compared to the previous year.
• High demand for the materials used in making the feeds such as maize and soya caused the significant increase in price of poultry feeds.

Current prices of chicken

• Broiler – N7,000
• Layers – N5,000
• Small layers – N2,200
• Cockrel – N5,000

Frozen food (1kg)

• Full Chicken – N2,000
• Orobo Chicken – N1,500
• Turkey – N1,900

Poultry Market Insights

According to Mrs. Olaoluwa, a Chicken trader at Iddo, Lagos explained to Nairalytics that sales have trickled down this year owing to the incessant increase in the prices of chicken in the market.

She further explained that the general increase in the price of poultry items has significantly affected turnover this year as many consumers are opting to buy frozen foods rather than live Chicken.

• “Despite already celebrating Christmas, you can see our large stock and low turn out of people, customers now prefer frozen chicken and turkey.”

A Broiler Chicken, which was sold for at most N5,000 last December now sells for an average of N7,000 this year, representing 40% increase in price.

A big sized layer that was sold for an average of N3,000 last year, now sells for N5,000 in the market, representing an increase of 66.7% in price.

In a conversation with Mr. Adeyemi Adekoya of Uphill Farms Limited, he explained that the various types of animal feed have gone up significantly within the year. For example, Hybrid feed that was sold for an average of N2,800 last year December now sells for an average of N4,200 while animal care now sells for an average of N4,200 as against N2,800 last December.

• “The increase in the cost of growing our birds has necessitated the unavoidable increase in the price of our chickens.”

He opined that although the price of these materials is beginning to reduce in recent times, he does not see the price of feeds easing, because in Nigeria nothing goes up and comes back to normal.

Mr. Sanni Rasheed of TAK Poultry Farm also confirmed that the price of poultry feeds is the major cause of the significant hike in price of Chicken across major poultry farms in Nigeria. He explained that there are about 6 different types of feeds namely; Broiler starter, Chicks, Layer feed, Grower, Super starter, and Finisher.

According to him, the highest cost of feed as at December 2019 was N3,750, which now sells for an average of N5,400, representing a 44% increase in price. He also mentioned that the price of feeds changes constantly, which makes it difficult for poultry farmers to make adequate planning and maintain their business models.

Furthermore, he explained that the huge demand for the raw materials (Maize and Soya) has contributed to the significant increase of the feeds. Some of the industries he mentioned that demand for maize are the Brewery industry and some consumer goods manufacturers.

To sample the feel of sales of frozen food items, Nairalytics visited Oshodi Market. Speaking to Mrs. Iwezu of God’s Anointed Frozen Foods Venture, she told Nairalytics that she believes more people bought live Chicken this Christmas and only used frozen food items as compliments.

She said due to the taste live Chicken brings to food, many Nigerians prefer to buy it instead of frozen food items. She, however, stated that a full Chicken (1kg) is sold for an average of N2,000, 33.3% increase when compared to N1,500 recorded last December.

Nairametrics, Dec 30, 2020