Pakistan’s Competition Commission fines poultry hatcheries for cartel

Based on CCP’s finding, the hatcheries formed a cartel and discussed prices in a WhatsApp group called “Chick Rate Announcement,” administered by a senior official of Big Bird Group.

• He coordinated the daily price updates. He sent the next day’s prices every day through phone texts or WhatsApp messages to the group members.
• Two officers of the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) were also part of the group.
• Group members actively discussed and shared next-day prices for approximately 198 times, in the years 2019 to 2021.
• The price-sensitive information was exchanged 108 times via text messages and 87 times through WhatsApp.
• Senior officials of the association present in the group never stop the sharing of price information, thereby facilitating the collusion.

Uniform rates

According to CCP, the cartel regularly announced uniform DOC rates for Punjab, and with minor freight adjustments, also influenced rates in Multan and Karachi.

Between March 2020 and April 2021, the price of DOC rose by 346%, from USD 0.064 to USD 0.28 per chick, contributing heavily to broiler meat price inflation.