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Chicken prices continue to soar
– 18 import licences granted
As chicken prices continue to cut deep into the pockets of consumers, government yesterday announced the granting of 18 licences to exporters.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, the licences will continue to be in effect up to January next year with chicken to be imported from neighbouring Suriname and the United States.
There have been fears that chicken prices would have been touching almost $500 per pound in the coming weeks as shortages continue. Consumers have been complaining of paying, on average, some $400 per pound.
Chicken, over the years, has been one of the cheapest and most popular sources of protein.
But farmers have been complaining of increasing challenges. They have been blaming poor quality baby chicks and feed on the shortages. Prices for the feed have been increasing too.
Many small farmers have already pulled out from the business after suffering severe losses from fatalities and stunted growth. The baby chick importers, on the other hand, have been blaming their egg suppliers from mainly the U.S. for the poor quality.
According to the Ministry, Minister Irfaan Ali, through its Consumer Affairs Division, has continued to monitor the escalating prices for poultry on the local market.
Two months ago, Ministry officials met with representatives from the Guyana Poultry Producers Association and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority to discuss the possibility of an impending shortage.
”Both agencies confirmed that the problem was with a shipment of hatching eggs,” Derrick Cummings, who spoke on behalf of the Ministry, explained.
“In anticipation of a shortage, and acting on feedback from consumers and retailers,” the Ministry disclosed that it recently granted permission for 18 persons to import chicken, up until January 2014.
Cummings noted that the importers will still have to pay the necessary duties. To protect local farmers, government had introduced import tax measures to ensure the chickens grown in Guyana are cheaper.
The permits were granted to “traditional importers” whose applications were pending.
“The prices were increasing and we followed the trend and made the determination that we would issue the permits. At the same time we want to protect the local industry,” Cummings said.
Those granted permission will be restricted to one or two containers to ensure no flooding of the market.
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4 thoughts on “Chicken prices continue to soar”
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Easy: Lets eats less chicken. Fish, vegetables maybe?
Eat fish, leave the chicken alone and the price will come down. Nothing as cheap as Banga Mary.
Well, vegetarian diet may have to be considered by the guyanese public, cause 500.00 dollars per lb is terrible!
Catfish and Curass will have to do for now, too bad.
I know it is is difficult to do …but i would wait until the imported chicken arrived …then stop buying chicken ….i bet after a few weeks the price would come down…then hopefully the Government would do something to make chicken more affordable for the poor people.