Four months after government imposed a 15 per cent Common External Tariff (CET) on chicken imports, poultry dealers are now complaining of a shortages on the local market. This has caused prices to increase to $6.50 per pound in south and central Trinidad.Amit Ramlogansingh, of Kes Meat Shop at Rochard Road, Penal, has been closing his shop on weekdays because he had no poultry to sell.
"I usually sell 500 chickens a week. For the past month, I have been getting 100 birds short. Because of the shortage, most of my regular customers are not getting their chickens," he complained. "New customers are coming because they cannot get chicken elsewhere. I have to close up the shop for the entire week because of this shortage."
Ramzan Ali, a salesman at Raziff Mohammed's Poultry Depot at Aripero Main Road, Rousillac, said he also had a shortfall."All I got from the supplier was 500 chickens. We have a great demand for chickens but we cannot supply our customers because of the shortage," Ali said.A spokesman at Nel's Poultry, at Duncan Village, San Fernando said she had been getting only 30 per cent of her quota for the past month. She attributed this to the reduction of foreign chicken parts on the local market.
"The import duties which they put on foreign chickens are causing this problem, because people who would have imported foreign chickens are now coming back to local producers to get their chicken."The demand is more than the supply right now and that is why chicken prices are going up. Nutrina and Supermix are taking the chickens to the processing plant so there isn't enough for the live market," she said.
She added: "This is the fifth week that chicken is scarce. The price has gone up. We buy from middlemen, so we have no choice but to sell at $6.50 per pound wholesale. We retail three four-pound chickens for $100. Chicken was $5 a pound before."Workers at KFC restaurants in San Fernando, Penal and Debe said there was no shortage of chicken at their restaurants.
Contacted at her office, Crystal Dipsingh, brand manager for KFC at Prestige Holdings Ltd said she could not comment on the matter until she spoke to her CEO Charles Pashley. She said she will issue a statement later.
Poultry dealersramp up production
President of the T&T Poultry Association Robin Phillip said local producers will ramp up production by the end of this month to deal with the shortage."We are coming to the end of the 2012 corn crop in the US, so some of the corn is not fresh and this slows down the growth of the chicken. With the extra heat, they are not putting on weight," said Phillip, who is also managing director of Arawak. "The price of chicken is relatively high in the US because of demand."
Phillip explained that because beef and pork are expensive, chicken, which is the cheapest meat, is in higher demand in the US and Canada.He said increased production will cater to local demand."We take 120 days to ramp up production. We have 1,500 customers nationwide, so we expect to have a 30 per cent increase in chickens by September. Between now and the end of August it will be tight to supply everyone," Phillip said.He added that all customers are being serviced.
"We are giving the same amount of chickens, but the size of the chickens is 20 per cent under the normal size."Phillip said most retailers are selling chicken at $5.75 a pound with a pluck fee ranging between $10 and $12.
According to a report from the Global Agricultural Information Network, poultry meat is the single largest US agricultural export category to the Caribbean. In 2012, the United States exported a record high of US$444 million in poultry meat to the region. T&T is the fifth largest Caribbean market for US poultry meat, with $29.3 million in US exports in 2012.
Bharath reconsiders the CET
Trade and Industry Minister Vasant Bharath said government may have to reverse the 15 per cent CET increase if chicken prices increase further. He said the tariff, imposed in March, was meant to protect the local industry.
"The CET did not place a ban on imported chicken or chicken parts. The Poultry Association lobbied to raise the tariff on imported chicken because a lot of it was being dumped in the local market. The US had a huge backlog of leg and thigh that was finding its way here and affecting the local poultry market," Bharath said.After Mexico and China raised their tariff duties, he said, T&T did the same.
"If we didn't do this, thousands of jobs would have been affected," Bharath said. He said more than 15,000-20,000 people are employed in the local poultry industry.The minister said government is keeping a close eye on escalating chicken prices.
"The price should stay between $5.60 to $6, but if it increases we may have to reverse the tariff, because we cannot allow the prices to get too high for the consumer," he said, adding that he would liaise with the Poultry Committee of the Ministry of Legal Affairs before taking any further action.