COMMERCE Minister Irfaan Ali has, over the past year, pledged his support towards addressing any shortfall in supply and unreasonable increase in pricing of poultry products.

In an effort to ensure that consumers are protected and receive the best prices for commodities, the Tourism, Industry and Commerce Ministry, through its Consumer Affairs Division, has continued to monitor the escalating prices for poultry products on the local market.

Towards this end, Ministry officials met with representatives from the Guyana Poultry Producers Association and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority, two months ago, to discuss the possibility of an impending shortage.
 
“Both agencies confirmed that the problem was with a shipment of hatching eggs,” Mr. Derrick Cummings, who spoke on behalf of the Ministry, explained.

In anticipation of a shortage, and acting on feedback from consumers and retailers, the Ministry recently granted permission to 18 persons to import chicken, up until January 2014.

Mr. Cummings noted that these permits for the importation of chicken were granted at 100% duty, and were given to traditional importers whose applications were pending.
He said, “The prices were increasing, and we followed the trend and made the determination that we would issue the permits. At the same time, we want to protect the local industry.” 

Those granted permission would be restricted to importing one or two containers from Suriname and the United States. Alluding to the importance of this move, Cummings assured that the Tourism, Industry and Commerce Ministry would continue with its efforts to monitor the situation in the best interest of the consumers and the local businesses.