BELIZE CITY, Wed. Apr. 7, 2021– Earlier this week, news outlets began reporting that poultry prices would be rising. Belizeans will now be paying six cents more per pound for whole chicken, ten-cents a pound more for special chicken, and sixteen cents more per pound for chicken cuts. The inflation of prices is reportedly attributed to the increase in the prices of soybean and corn, which are used for animal feed.

The manager of the Belize Poultry Association, Armando Cowo, provided the following explanation when interviewed by the media:

“The price increase is being attributed to the increase in the price of our raw materials, which is basically corn and soybean. The corn price currently on the market is at thirty cents a pound. Usually at this time of the year we’re buying corn at 24,25,26 cents per pound, whereas with the soybean it would be around 44, 45, 46 cents in some instances, up to 48 cents, but right now the price is at 62 cents per pound of soybean. The soybean and the corn is what makes up the bulk of the feed that feeds the birds. Therefore, once the price of your raw materials go up, anyone in business would know, then the price of your final product will be affected. What we can try to do as best as possible is to minimize the impact, but we can’t absorb the shock of the prices of the grains. But this is cyclical. This goes in cycles. This goes up, then it goes down, then it repeats itself year in, year out. So, it’s not a permanent situation with prices,” he said.

While Mr. Cowo asserts that this is a cyclical occurrence, the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Jose Abelardo Mai, gave a more nuanced explanation of the increase during a separate media interview. Mai attributed the rise in prices, to the recent increased demand by China for soybeans and corn. According to Mai, China’s consumption of feed decreased drastically due to the pandemic as well as an invasion of African Swine Fever, which resulted in the disposal of 50% of China’s pork industry. Now the nation’s economy is looking to rebound, which has caused them to consume a higher quantity of feed, thus increasing the feed’s market value, as explained by Mai:

“The industry now in China is just rebounding, and in rebounding they are rebuilding and expanding their new pork industry. The main ingredient in animal feed is soybean and corn. The US is the largest producer of soybean in the world. China is buying all the soybean that the US produces. Last year this time, the US reported that they had sold, I think, only nineteen metric tons of soybean. Today, with the demand from China, they have sold sixty million metric tons of soybean. So, the Chinese are just voraciously buying out all the soybean. Belize produces only 20% of the soybean we use in animal feed. We import 80%. So, the increase in poultry is due to the increase in price and the high consuming effects of China. The corn went up a little, not as significant as the soybean cost. Soybean cost went up from eight dollars a bushel to, I think, fourteen dollars a bushel.”

Minister Mai stated that they are monitoring the situation carefully and said that he instructed his technical personnel to meet with the Poultry Association and grain producers. He too asserted that the increase will not last forever.