SUKANTA HALDER and MD ABU TALHA SARKER

While the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) estimates a surplus of meat production in the country, prices of all – be it chicken meat, mutton or beef -- have risen, raising questions about the authenticity of production and demand estimates.

Data from the DLS showed that meat production in Bangladesh stood at 87.10 lakh tonnes in fiscal year (FY) 2022-23 against a demand of 76.08 lakh tonnes, meaning there was a surplus of 11 lakh tonnes.

Despite the surplus, consumers in Dhaka city had to pay 10 percent higher prices for broiler chicken meat and 15.04 percent higher prices for beef yesterday from that a year ago, according to prices data compiled by the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

DLS officials, poultry breeders and dairy farmers supported the surplus production estimate of the DLS and blamed the price spiral on an increase in the cost of feed and other inputs.

Analysts, however, pointed out that the prices should have gone down as per the law of demand and supply -- that higher supply against demand causes prices to go down whereas prices rise when demand is higher than supply.

“It is natural for prices to go down if there is excess supply in the market. Here either demand is underestimated or supply is overestimated,” said Selim Raihan, a professor of economics at the University of Dhaka.

MEAT PRODUCTION AND

DEMAND

(In lakh tonnes)

SOURCE: DLS

FY19

FY20

FY21

FY22

FY23