EFFECT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON MARKET PRICE OF POULTRY AND POULTRY PRODUCTS IN SOME SELECTED AREAS OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Executive Summary The study aims to investigate how the COVID/19 pandemic has impacted on the price of poultry and poultry products. The current study was conducted by using secondary data collected from relevant online database of poultry news portal. Data of one year were collected of which six months from pre-COVID period (July-December/2019) and six months from COVID period (July-December/2020). A structural questionnaire was prepared to collect market price of poultry and poultry products from eight divisions (Dhaka, Khulna, Barishal, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Rangpur, Rajshahi and Chattogram) of Bangladesh. To collect the data 4 days of a month were considered randomly taking a day from each week. Total (4 days x 6 months x 8 divisions) 192 days data were collected taking 48 days each from pre-COVID and COVID period. Therefore, the planning was to collect a total of (192x2) 384 days data for the study. The results showed that the average wholesale price of live birds (Broiler chicken, Culled white chicken and Sonali chicken), Shell eggs (Brown and White) and Day-Old-Chicks (Brown and White layer chicks and Broiler chicks) was fluctuated due to COVID-19 pandemic, but no significant (p>0.05) difference was found in prices except live culled red chicken. The average wholesale price of culled red chicken in Chattogram was 171.12±19.67 on July to December 2019 and 195.34±35.70 on July to December 2020. In Khulna and Rajshahi the wholesale price of brown shell eggs was decreased whereas in Dhaka, Barishal and Chattogram the price was upward, but it remained unchanged in Mymensingh, Sylhet and Rangpur during COVID pandemic. The wholesale price of white shell eggs in Dhaka, Khulna and Rajshahi showed decreasing trend during pandemic but increased in Chattogram. The wholesale price of white layer chicks was lowered by 21.43Tk, 23.79Tk and 31.03Tk in COVID period than pre-COVID period in Dhaka, Barishal and Rangpur, whereas minor price fluctuation was observed in brown layer and broiler chicks. The wholesale price of Sonali chicks was 15.67±3.50 in Rangpur during pandemic. The study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the poultry industry.