No price tag on Samrat poultry feed
Traders/agents are calling the shots
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 30 2012: Samrat poultry feed which is one of the most popular poultry feed among poultry farmers of Manipur has no price tag, and with the State Government paying little attention to such unscrupulous practices, it is the whim of traders which is taken as the last word as far as price of Samrat is concerned.

Whereas poultry traders have been earning extra profit by capitalising on absence of price tag on the bags of Samrat poultry feed, the same practice has severely reduced the profit margin of poultry farmers.

On the other hand, price of dressed chicken at Imphal has come down to Rs 170/180 per Kg from Rs 200 per Kg which was the case a few days back.

But there is every possibility that the price of chicken may escalate in the coming days since the mill price of Samrat feed produced at Silliguri was hiked recently.

Chopped chicken; bag of Samrat chicken feed with no pirce tag

A random market survey conducted by TSE found that one bag (70 Kg capacity) of Samrat was sold at as high as Rs 2300.Sometime back, one bag of Samrat feed of the same capacity was sold at Rs 1800 or Rs 1830 or Rs 1850 .

When TSE contacted S Mukherjee, Marketing Manager of Samrat, he informed that the price of one bag of Samrat poultry feed (both starter and finisher) has been hiked to Rs 1980 .

The price of Samrat feed (grower) has reached Rs 1870 per bag of 70 Kg capacity.

These prices are raised by Rs 180 per bag from the prices fixed on July 23 .

The earlier prices were revised out of necessity due to hike in prices of raw materials like soyabean and maize.

Price of soyabean and maize has shot up to Rs 50 per Kg from Rs 37 , said S Mukherjee.

But he refused to give any comment when he was asked if their factory was giving any benefits to agents supplying poultry feed to Manipur.

Apparently, there is no authority to check whether the escalation in prices of Samrat feed at Imphal is compatible to the price hike at the Silliguri mill.

After the mill price was hiked by Rs 180 from the previous price, the price of Samrat feed has escalated to Rs 2300 per bag at Imphal.

One official of the State Veterinary Department said that the prices of Samrat feed at Imphal were fixed by agents/traders.

The department too has been buying poultry feeds from the agents at the prices fixed by them when there is need for poultry feeds at the poultry farms run by the department, the official added.