Dear Editor,
I have seen some activity in the media recently concerning the cost of chicken in Guyana, when compared to imported chicken. So the problem is that the cost of growing chicken in Guyana is getting higher and higher in the past few years, so it should come as no great shock that in 2023 its now completely out of control. Since May 2022, a statement was issued by Bounty Farms, one of Guyana’s oldest and largest chicken producers in this country, “that a 15% increase in the price of chicken will be necessary.” In that 2022 statement, the company also said, “The cost of raw materials, i.e. feed ingredients have escalated to levels that leave us no alternative but to increase our prices. These are conditions of our industry over which we have no control, and we trust that we can count on your understanding of this matter,” the company begged customers.
Over the past two years, prices in the markets have been increasing at an astronomical rate. The APNU+AFC has been sounding the alarm over the increases and the Ali regime’s rudimentary approach to solving the problem. Before the announced increase in prices by Bounty Farms, chicken was selling for as much as $480 per pound retail at many places including Bourda Market, the release from Bounty said. Bounty Farm manufactures their own feed, and clearly the cost of the raw materials to make the feed is and has been escalating out of control for years. The economical growing of chicken is mainly based on the cost of feed, since it can account for around 70% of total costs.
It is true that in the UK the price of chicken has also been rising astronomically due to the war in the Ukraine, but between 2022 and 2023 the chicken prices in the US experienced an average inflation rate of only 1.37% per year. In other words, chicken costing $1.95 in the year 2022 would cost $1.98 in 2023 for an equivalent purchase. Compared to the overall inflation rate of 3.33% in the US during this same period, inflation for chicken was lower. Therefore, the real question, which must be addressed and answered, is why, in Guyana, the cost of feed has been rising so astronomically in the past few years? Editor, I already know the answer, and given the above facts I am sure that your readers will have no problem arriving at the right conclusion! Unless and until the price of feed is addressed and managed properly by the authorities, there cannot be a resolution to this matter.
Sincerely,
Tony Vieira
