Islamabad, April 30, 2025 — In a major crackdown on anti-competitive behavior, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has imposed a hefty penalty of Rs155 million on eight leading poultry hatcheries for cartelization and price-fixing in the market of day-old broiler chicks (DOCs).
According to an official statement, the CCP launched a suo motu investigation after receiving numerous complaints regarding rising prices in the poultry sector. The inquiry revealed that major players in the poultry industry — including Sadiq Poultry, Hi-Tech Group, Islamabad Group, Olympia Group, Jadeed Group, Supreme Farms (Seasons Group), Big Bird Group, and Sabir’s Group — engaged in cartelization to manipulate prices of DOCs between 2019 and 2021.
The CCP uncovered evidence of systematic coordination among the hatcheries through a WhatsApp group titled “Chick Rate Announcement.” This group, administered by Dr. Shahid, Marketing Manager at Big Bird Group, was used to distribute daily price updates to members. These hatcheries shared price-sensitive information nearly 198 times, with 108 exchanges via text messages and 87 through WhatsApp.
The involvement of high-ranking officials from the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA), including Dr. Abdul Karim (Chairman, Hatchery Affairs Committee) and Major (R) Syed Javaid Hussain Bukhari (Secretary General), further amplified the scale of cartelization. The CCP found that the PPA officials did nothing to discourage this coordination, thereby enabling and sustaining the price-fixing practices.
Between March 2020 and April 2021, the average price of DOCs skyrocketed by 346% — from Rs17.92 to Rs79.92 per chick — causing significant inflation in broiler meat prices and burdening consumers.
The CCP emphasized that such cartelization is in clear violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2010, which prohibits agreements to fix prices, control supply, or restrict market entry. It reiterated that trade associations should not serve as platforms for coordinating prices in the poultry industry.
Furthermore, the CCP has received fresh complaints of continued price manipulation, with DOC prices now surging to Rs230 per chick — almost three times the fair market rate of Rs78 — raising new concerns of ongoing cartelization in the poultry sector.