Jakarta – The government is yet to find a solution to the recent drop in the price of chicken meat that has seen poultry farmers cry foul.

In the last two days the average farm price of chicken has been Rp 9,883 per kilogram, Trade Ministry Domestic Trade Director General Tjahya Widayanti said on Tuesday, adding that prices began to fall on May 30.

Initially, prices began to fall in East Java, before spreading to Central Java and finally also hitting West Java, she added.

"Based on information from independent [small-scale] farmers and poultry companies, the price drop was triggered by oversupply," she said as quoted by kontan.co.id.

Poultry farmers in Central Java said the farm price of chicken meat was Rp 8,000 (57 US cents) to Rp 10,000 per kilogram, roughly half the production cost of Rp 18,500 per kg.

Tjahya said the ministry had issued letter No. 130/PDN/SD/5/2019 to remind all stakeholders, including slaughter houses and the Indonesian Retailers Association (Aprindo), that the price reference for chicken meat was Rp 18,000 per kilogram, according to Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 96/2018.

She said the ministry had also followed up the results of a coordination meeting with poultry stakeholders on June 14 by issuing letter No. 158/PDN/SD/6/2019 to call on independent farmers and small and medium-sized farming companies to distribute chicken meat to the public via corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes.

To reduce the oversupply of chicken meat, the ministry has also suggested a 30 percent reduction in the number of day old chicks (DOC). However, Tjahya admitted that all the efforts thus far had done little to lower prices. (bbn)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/06/26/no-solution-found-for-drop-in-chicken-meat-price.html