Chicken prices going up by average of nine cents – but not cost of food, says Poultry Association

By Aaron Humes: Chicken producers under the Belize Poultry Association have announced plans to lift the price of whole chicken, special chicken, and chicken parts by an average of nine cents per pound.

Manager Armando Cowo confirmed the price increased and cites both rising fuel prices and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on commodity production: “It is not only one item, but all the items that we use to grow, process, and market the chicken. It’s having an impact on the price adjustment because when you look at it, the plastics that we use, the restricted plastic that we use to market our produce has gone up; the trays in which our products hold, the prices have gone up. The price of fuel is a factor, the price of fertilizers is a factor; basically the price of everything, even electricity supply,” Cowo said on Wednesday on the Love FM Morning Show.

Producers deliberated for six weeks before coming to a decision and each producer will lift prices by more or less the average. Cowo asked Belizeans for their understanding: “I will ask the Belizean consumer to be cognizant of that fact and that we are not doing it because we want to take advantage of the current situation. We are not doing it for any other reason than for us to stay afloat because if we don’t do it we would not stay afloat. We would not have this industry being compromised because of the current world economic situation.”

And he argues that the rise in price of this common meat should not be passed on in heavy rises for produced dishes such as the standard rice and beans with stewed chicken, or barbecue.

According to Cowo, when the last price increase of six cents a pound was made, people called him saying prices for barbecue had gone up a whole dollar. Irrespective of other costs, he argued, the price of chicken alone going up should not necessitate an increase in prices, or justify it.

He concluded telling the Love FM Morning Show hosts that “We want to be honest with the consumer and let them know that hey, it’s coming. We really can’t do anything about it. We want you to understand us and bear with us until we get over this together and then we will review the price structure and see where we go with it after that but for now, this is the current situation.”

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