AMMAN — With the arrival of Ramadan, there are
growing public complaints about shortages of poultry in the market, as well as
the fact that some shops are selling chicken at exorbitant prices, in violation
of price ceilings set by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply.
اضافة اعلان
The government set the selling price of chicken at
JD1.9 for traders and JD2 for consumers.
“There is no shortage of fresh and frozen chicken,”
said Mohammad Abu Shehab, sales manager at Al-Jazirah Poultry Group, who
stressed that the supply of chicken increases during the holy month to meet the
needs of the market.
According to Abu Shehab, many people end up
overpaying for goods, in violation of government regulations, and attributed
this state of affairs to a lack of supervision on the part of the Ministry of Industry,
which, he said, needs to exert more control over the markets.
According to the general manager of Hammoudeh
Chicken Company, Abdul Majeed Samara, chickens are available in all markets
that sell poultry, but the markets usually run out quickly on certain days
around Ramadan due to consumer behavior.
Consumption drives demand up, and thus quantities
are running out faster, but this is not due to a lack of distribution or
shortages; quite the contrary, poultry companies usually increase their production
capacity to meet consumption needs, particularly during the first days of the
holy month, he said.
According to some media outlets, the consumption
rate during Ramadan is around 950,000 birds per day, some 250,000 more than
during regular days.
Samara complained about the government’s poultry
pricing, claiming that setting a price ceiling without first studying the costs
and the markets harms poultry company owners and that the increase in poultry
prices during this period is justified because feed, oil, soy, and corn prices
rose.
He claimed that the government should have set a
price ceiling for imported chicken in order to reduce reliance on imports and
support the domestic industry.
Prices are set by the Ministry of Industry, and
while there are violators, most have adhered to the government price.
According to Abdul Shakoor Jamjoom, president of the
Poultry Breeders Association, the high prices of red meat, disproportionate to
most individuals’ income, makes poultry more appealing.
He said that the government pricing of poultry is
unfair to farmers because the cost of production increased due to price
increases of some necessary products, such as feed, particularly after the war
in Ukraine.
Jamjoom said that the
situation is expected to return to normal in the coming days and that poultry
will be abundantly available in the market, but emphasized the need to ration
consumption during this season.
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