One of Barbados’ largest chicken producers will be raising the prices of its commodity from this week.
And once again, the recent increase in the price of feed is to blame.
Two weeks ago, local company Pinnacle Feeds indicated it would be raising the price of its feed by 19 per cent, as it was unable to continue absorbing the increases of related products on the international market.
Yesterday, Chickmont Foods Limited, one of the country’s largest suppliers of poultry products, revealed they too, could not keep their prices at the same levels.
“The price of chicken will go up. The price of eggs will go up. From this week we will increase the prices. I expect everyone will increase prices. There is no way any one producer can hold their prices. It’s just not possible,” general manager managing director, Edward Becker told the Starcom Network.
Becker said Chickmont had to deal with feed increases of 22 per cent, a major increase.
“The price of feed hasn’t changed since 2014 so it’s been a long time. You also have to bear in mind the hurricane [Elsa] was not nice to agriculture. There was a major egg producer that was totally devastated in the St Philip area and that would have impacted the cost of the production as well,” he told the radio network.
He noted that there may also be a reduction in sales after such an increase, since Barbadians have only so much income at their disposal.
“People just don’t have any more money to spend on food than what they have right now, and that would have a negative impact on the industry.” (BA)
