Government to set fixed poultry price
Government to set fixed poultry price
The government is moving to set a mandatory retail price for poultry and reduce the power of middlemen that facilitate the trade between farmers and vendors.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce's Domestic Trade Department is working with the Vientiane Industry and Commerce Department and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to draw up regulations and determine how they would be enforced.
“We expect to announce the regulations soon, but it may be early next year,” the trade department's Director General, MrLeuam Nhongvongsithi, told Vientiane Times on Tuesday.
Mr Leuam said the regulations would specify a price that merchants could sell poultry for, which w ould be enforced nationwide.
The department is now studying the production costs of poultry products so it can set a “suitable price” for market sale. In the existing unregulated market, prices range from 25,000 kip to 40,000 kip per kilo.
Prices will be set at all levels, determining the how much farmers can sell for, the amount middlemen will get and the final retail price.
The aim is to stop middlemen charging exorbitant fees for ferrying the product from the grower to the seller.
Mr Leuam said there were difficulties in studying the price structure because some poultry breeders and farmers were not cooperating with ministry officials.
“The farmers think that if they tell the truth about production costs and supply they may have to pay more tax or duty. That is what they misunderstand,” he said.
“We just want to know what their expenditure on their poultry production is.”
vientiane times
