The price of day-old chicks shot up by nearly 200 per cent in last 10 days.
Profiteers laid their hands on chicks, after sugar and cooking oil to make quick bucks ahead of Ramadan, said baffled poultry market observers.
They said that the profiteers got a field day.
Poultry farmers said they were forced to buy the day-old chicks for Tk 60 each on Tuesday, up from Tk 20 or 22 only 10 days back.
They said that the profiteers were out to exploit the growing demand ahead of Eid.
Usually, they said, 10 lakh day-old chicks are sold.
But the demand now peaked at 13 lakh as the festival is approaching, said Bangladesh Poultry Shilpa Rokhkha Jatiya Parishad leaders.
The Parishad general secretary Khondokar Mohammad Mohsin said that the breeders raised the price suddenly to exploit the growing demand and without any legitimate reason.
Now the farmers have to deposit money in advance and collect the chicks paying to the breeders according to the price of the day, he said.
He demanded government intervention to check the 'illogical' increase in the price of day-old poultry birds.
Source : New Age
