Sunday, January 18, 2009

When Are Fakes More Expensive?

Yesterday, Doc Rey came across a vendor of obviously fake SASSO chicks. Why obviously fake? Because Solraya, to date, is the only importer of Certified Parent Stocks from SASSO of France since we cemented talks in 2007. Even our competitor has to point to us as the only source of SASSO origins, in the Philippines.

Back to Doc Rey... He approached the chick vendor and asked what was being sold. The man replied SASSO, but said they were crossed. He was selling at PHP50 per chick! Doc Rey listened to him say that out of the number of eggs he sets in the incubator, he gets 75% hatchability. Not too bad you may say, huh? But wait....he continues that out of the 75% that hatches, 50% lives on day1. The number continues to dwindle during brooding stage.

That leaves him with about 37.5% of production at day1. No wonder he has to sell at PHP50. Do you think that is a fair price if not expensive? Considering that we are at PHP35....he is cheap!

Why will I say that he sells cheaply? The man doesn't have the economies of scale. He may just have 350-1000 heads. He spends a lot on feeds for such a poor production. Even if he grew his inbred chicks for meat production, he will lose money and time because of slow growth. Most importantly, he loses a lot on his expectations.

As I always say....IF it was profitable to cross breed and in breed, why will we be periodically importing Certified Parent Stocks? Why don't the big companies who are into the industrial chickens just inbreed? Who amongst the farms that inbred have sustained the business?

Are the fakes expensive or cheap? Wehehhe its like seeing the black dot or the white paper. Expensive for the buyer, but cheap price for the seller...that's the reality.

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