Poultry owners lament low patronage, as price of chickens jump by 40% during Christmas

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 a significant increase in the 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.