Poultry industry to cross Rs 1.32 lakh cr by '15: Study

With demand surging for broiler meat and eggs, India's poultry sales are likely to be over Rs 1.32 lakh crore by 2015, industry body Assocham said on Thursday.

Growing around 20 per cent annually, the domestic poultry market is estimated to be about Rs 49,000 crore, said the study, 'Trends In Domestic Poultry Segment'. "Driven by rising purchasing power, changing food habits, contract poultry farming and rapid urbanisation are certain key reasons for this constant upswing in this niche poultry sector," said Assocham secretary general D S Rawat while releasing the study.

"But sporadic bird flu outbreaks in different parts of the country along with a lack of storage and processing facilities and rising prices of feed stocks including soymeal and maize have severely hit the poultry exports," said Rawat.

Maize accounts for over half of total production cost of poultry feed and the poultry sector consumes over 50 per cent of the maize production in the country. Broiler meat and table eggs account for most of the domestic poultry market as India is the third largest egg producer and fourth largest broiler meat producer in the world. Besides, the Indian poultry sector has shifted from a live-bird market to a chilled/frozen-product market.

Nearly three million tonnes of broiler meat and about 2.86 million tonnes of eggs are produced annually in India, said the study.

Southern India accounts for the majority of poultry production and consumption in the country. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in the west and Haryana, Punjab in north are key regions in this aspect. Significant breakthrough in poultry science and technology together with breeding of genetically superior birds capable of high production, manufacturing of high-tech poultry equipment are key reasons for growth in egg, meat production.

There is a plethora of opportunities for foreign direct investment in the poultry sector in areas like breeding, medication, feedstock, vertical integration and processing but lack of infrastructure like power and transportation are major turn off in this aspect, points out the Assocham study. Nearly two crore farmers (including agrarian farmers) are employed in poultry industry. Currently, there are about 1,000 hatcheries operating across India.