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Prices of dressed chickens in Malawi’s leading supermarkets have sharply gone up prompting the Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) to accuse the local poultry industry of taking advantage of the importation ban to exploit local consumers.
Cama’s ‘Consumer Market Guide’ data recorded on Wednesday indicated that dressed chickens are selling at K250 (about $2) per kilogramme (kg) at Shoprite, K200/kg in People’s Supermarket, K180/kg at Chitawira Superette and K190/kg at Iponga superettes, all up from around K150-K165 per kg.
A spot check in People’s Supermarket in Blantyre on Thursday showed that dressed chickens, which have already been weighed and priced, are selling as high as K420 per bird.
Reacting to the development, Cama executive director John Kapito said on Thursday the importation ban is only protecting the profits of the poultry producers while exploiting the consumers.
“If a chicken is selling at K250 per kilogramme, it means that for any small chicken you want to buy you will pay K300-plus. This is a joke,” he said, pressing for a regulatory mechanisms to protect consumers.
Poultry Association of Malawi chairman Alex Stewart, who is also managing director for hatchers Charles Stewart Day Old Chicks Limited, said on Thursday his association was investigating the factors leading to the price hike.
But Stewart said prices of maize, one of the raw materials for making the feeds, had also slightly gone up while another raw material soya is imported from Zimbabwe where inflation is as high as 600 percent which could be a contributing factor to rising prices.
Commerce and Industry Minister Sam Mpasu, reacting to the concerns of the consumers on high-flying chicken prices, said in an interview on Thursday that the such conflicts were normal between producers and consumers.
But Mpasu dismissed suggestions that high cost of imported feeds were a contributing factor saying most of the local large-scale producers were making their own chicken feeds.
On the importation of feeds, Kapito said it was absurd to ban importation of chickens from neighbouring countries and at the same time allow feeds from there to be imported.
Commenting on the importation ban which Cama said should be lifted, Mpasu said chicken imports have not been banned but rather government has subjected such imports to licences and anyone seeking to import can apply.
Most small-scale chicken producers were also pricing their birds at around K270 and above per bird.,
Prices of dressed chickens in Malawi’s leading supermarkets have sharply gone up prompting the Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) to accuse the local poultry industry of taking advantage of the importation ban to exploit local consumers.
Cama’s ‘Consumer Market Guide’ data recorded on Wednesday indicated that dressed chickens are selling at K250 (about $2) per kilogramme (kg) at Shoprite, K200/kg in People’s Supermarket, K180/kg at Chitawira Superette and K190/kg at Iponga superettes, all up from around K150-K165 per kg.
A spot check in People’s Supermarket in Blantyre on Thursday showed that dressed chickens, which have already been weighed and priced, are selling as high as K420 per bird.
Reacting to the development, Cama executive director John Kapito said on Thursday the importation ban is only protecting the profits of the poultry producers while exploiting the consumers.
“If a chicken is selling at K250 per kilogramme, it means that for any small chicken you want to buy you will pay K300-plus. This is a joke,” he said, pressing for a regulatory mechanisms to protect consumers.
Poultry Association of Malawi chairman Alex Stewart, who is also managing director for hatchers Charles Stewart Day Old Chicks Limited, said on Thursday his association was investigating the factors leading to the price hike.
But Stewart said prices of maize, one of the raw materials for making the feeds, had also slightly gone up while another raw material soya is imported from Zimbabwe where inflation is as high as 600 percent which could be a contributing factor to rising prices.
Commerce and Industry Minister Sam Mpasu, reacting to the concerns of the consumers on high-flying chicken prices, said in an interview on Thursday that the such conflicts were normal between producers and consumers.
But Mpasu dismissed suggestions that high cost of imported feeds were a contributing factor saying most of the local large-scale producers were making their own chicken feeds.
On the importation of feeds, Kapito said it was absurd to ban importation of chickens from neighbouring countries and at the same time allow feeds from there to be imported.
Commenting on the importation ban which Cama said should be lifted, Mpasu said chicken imports have not been banned but rather government has subjected such imports to licences and anyone seeking to import can apply.
Most small-scale chicken producers were also pricing their birds at around K270 and above per bird.
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