Belize Poultry Association against price gouging.

BELMOPAN, Belize– The Belize Poultry Association (BPA) says the minimal increase in the price of poultry products due to the rising fuel prices on the world market and the economic impact that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been having on commodities should not be used to price gouge.

BPA manager, Armando Cowo, said price gouging had occurred during the last adjustment when the cost per pound of chicken went up by eight cents (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents).

The cost of chicken is going up by approximately nine cents per pound by the end of this week, and Cowo said that the move was critical to saving the poultry industry.

“More a price adjustment than a price increase; I know some people would say the price still gone up. But yes, given the circumstances under which the industry is operating and the economic circumstances under which everybody knows the world is in, prices have been going up on several commodities.

“And our industry more than anybody has felt it at all levels. It is not only one item but also all the items 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,” Cowo said, adding that “the prices of fuel is a factor, the prices of fertilizers is a factor; the price of everything, even electricity supply.”

Regarding possible price gouging, Cowo said, “even though we are adjusting, let us not try to be gouged by other people out there who are intermediaries in the process, who buy bulk and then sell it to you on the retail level and then you, in turn, sell it to your consumer at a higher level.

“If the price of chicken goes up by 10 cents a pound, when you sell a plate of rice and beans, you don’t sell a pound of chicken on that plate of rice and beans. So don’t use that as an excuse to say, well …the price of chicken has gone up.

But we are asking our people to be patient with us. It is not something we intentionally do or gouge more money out of your pocket. Instead, we are trying to save the industry.