Oman- Jordanians are complaining about the lack of chicken in stores and commercial centers in Jordan, amid a state of tension and attraction between the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, the Consumer Protection Association, and the Poultry Sector Investors Association, over the party responsible for the crisis of chicken disappearance in the markets.
This comes after successive increases in poultry prices over the past weeks, which prompted the Jordanian government to impose a ceiling on the price of fresh chicken at 1.7 dinars ($2.40) per kilogram, after the price of a kilo during the last period exceeded two and a half dinars ($3.53).
According to citizens, the main problem lies in the lack of availability of chicken in the markets, and if it is available, the quantities offered are small and at high prices, which makes it difficult for them to meet their needs for it.
The head of the Consumer Protection Association, Muhammad Obaidat, acknowledged that his association had received hundreds of complaints from all governorates of Jordan about the lack of sufficient quantities of chicken.
He said in a statement to Al Jazeera Net that chicken is an essential food for Jordanian citizens, given the high prices of all kinds of red meat.
“Let her meet and not meet.”
Boycott is a Jordanian weapon to reduce chicken prices pic.twitter.com/zqcd1LIAlH– Mahasen Al-Homsi (@mahassenhomsi) May 6, 2024
Is it a commercial monopoly?
Obaidat fears that the lack of availability of chicken in sufficient quantities and at appropriate weights will be a tool for pressure by some merchants on the Ministry of Supply to cancel the price ceilings that the Ministry set a while ago, as a result of the exaggerated rise in its prices.
He accused some chicken merchants of hoarding what they have, waiting to sell it at higher than current prices, pointing out that the majority of citizen consumers cannot afford these prices.
Obaidat held the Ministry of Trade and Supply responsible for the chicken crisis, accusing it of not playing the role required of it in solving the problem of high chicken prices, or its unavailability in the markets on a regular basis.
Media spokesman for the Jordanian Ministry of Industry: The quantities of slaughtered chicken amounted to 540 thousand birds, about 40 thousand more than the daily market need of 500 thousand fresh chickens.
In turn, the media spokesman for the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, Yanal Al-Baramawi, confirmed the increase in the quantities of chicken supplied to the local market during the recent period.
Al-Baramawi said, in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, that the quantities of slaughtered chicken amounted to 540,000 birds, about 40,000 more than the daily market need of 500,000 fresh chickens.
He added that there is an improvement in the weights of chicken, and a great commitment to the price ceilings set by the Ministry, noting that 81 violations were recorded for non-compliance with the specified price for chicken, and 49 violations for failure to announce prices.
Fines and violations
Al-Baramawi pointed out that fines of no less than 1,000 dinars ($1,410.65) await anyone who violates the price ceilings for selling chicken, or imprisonment for a period of no less than two months.
As for the head of the Poultry and Feed Investors Association, Abdul Shakur Jamjoom, he pointed out that several circumstances were involved in the chicken crisis, stressing at the same time that “the old chicken prices will not return to what they were before.”
He pointed out that this period of the year usually witnesses changes in temperature, which negatively and directly affects chickens and leads to the death of large numbers of them.
He said that there is a shortage in the quantity supplied, which leads to an increase in the price, promising to solve the problem during the coming period.
“You meet and you don’t meet”
As an expression of their rejection of the high prices of chicken, Jordanian activists launched an electronic campaign on social networking sites in Jordan, under the slogan: “Let it meet (the sound of chicken) and it will not meet.” It aims to boycott chicken to reduce demand for it, cause its prices to fall again, and prevent its monopoly. By some merchants.
Economic expert Zayan Zwaneh attributed the current chicken price problem in the Kingdom to several combined reasons, the most important of which are:
- Increased demand for chicken due to the high price of meat.
- The price of imported Brazilian chicken has increased.
- The structure of chicken production has changed from the form of “small breeders” and what are known as “pluckers” to a semi-integrated “poultry industry”.
- A limited number of Jordanian companies invest in this industry.
- Diseases reduced the amount of chicken supplied to the market and delayed the growth period of live chickens.
- The decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to address the issue by setting a price ceiling for “whole chicken” chicken, and leaving other forms of chicken production (cut, pulled chicken) without a price ceiling, which reduced the amount of chicken of this type coming to the market, and prompted producers to supply to other market outlets without a price ceiling. There, such as restaurants, hospitals and hotels.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Zian Zwaneh pointed out that these reasons combined resulted in the current state of the chicken market, pointing out that it could have been addressed by leaving the market to stabilize on its own, after a short period of time through deeper professional communication with “chicken industry” companies, and from Without a price ceiling, the market will gradually return to stability in terms of price and supply, especially after Eid al-Adha, when demand from restaurants, hotels, and the average consumer increases.
