HICCUPS in the local poultry market that have left some consumers scrambling for chicken meat should be ironed out in less than a month, according to Jamaica Broilers Group Limited President and CEO Christopher Levy.

However, he noted that challenges with imported chicken back and necks will continue for a while.

“At Best Dressed Chicken we are working to respond to this tightness with urgency. Our production levels have increased and will continue to do so right through Christmas. We are working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture with regards to production and inventory levels,” Levy said in a letter to the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday.

He was responding to the Observer’s front-page article in which individuals from at least five parishes complained of difficulty sourcing mixed parts, baby chicks and imported chicken back. Some said the problems had persisted for almost two months.

Like Agriculture Minister Floyd Green, Levy attributed a reduction of supply in the market to the impact Hurricane Beryl had on small farmers who make up 30 per cent of poultry production locally.

“It is our assessment that the impact reduced their production by about 50 per cent. As a result of the damage to small farmers’ flocks, there is a tightening of supply in the general market, which demonstrates the importance of our small farmers in our Jamaican economy,” said the Jamaica Broilers Group CEO.

But he stressed that, because of the resilience of smaller players in rural parishes, their “production is rebounding aggressively”.

“It is our expectation that the overall supply from small farmers and the two large producers [Best Dressed Chicken and Caribbean Broilers] will come into balance with customer demand in the next two to three weeks,” Levy predicted.

Short of supply, some meat shops in St James have been limiting customers to two pounds of mixed parts each; in downtown Kingston others have been ‘marrying’ a chicken to the purchase of another type of meat. One restaurant operator in Falmouth said he was forced to tack on $100 to his chicken meals as chicken meat prices had increased by about $60 per pound.

However, on Wednesday, Levy stressed that despite the tightening of supply, there has been no price increase by his company.

“Best Dressed Chicken has not raised its price of whole chicken or mixed parts. In fact, our last price increase was in October 2023,” he wrote.

He also sought to refute reports that, in some parishes, there is a challenge sourcing baby chicks. In the article carried on Wednesday, one Westmoreland farm store owner said there was a surplus of chicks but at a farm store in Alva, St Ann, there were complaints of a shortage.

“I usually order like 4,000 [chicks] and I haven’t been getting that amount. Sometimes they will give me like 2,500 or a little closer to the amount I order, but not the full amount,” Roy Cunningham from Ringo’s farm store told the Observer.

He theorised that his track record of purchasing big orders of chicken feed may have played a role in him being able to get baby chicks at a time when they were hard to come by.

But Levy said there has been no challenge supplying baby chicks.

“Since the passage of Hurricane Beryl, our Hi-Pro Division has been meeting the small farmers’ demand for baby chicks fully,” he insisted.

He did agree, however, that there was merit to complaints from meat shop operator Patrick Kerr, in Hanover, that there is a challenge with imported chicken back — the preferred option for people on a tight budget.

Kerr told the Observer that for more than eight weeks he has noticed a shortage of chicken back, but had heard of no plans to take action to ease the tightness he is seeing in the local market.

“Well over two months I don’t see one case. I don’t get one case of that to sell. The imported back [is] not there. That is gone, and I don’t hear of any importation that is being done or will be done — nothing of the sort,” he said.

According to Levy, those challenges are expected to continue for a while.

“The price of imported neck and back, which has no duty, has increased in the overseas markets and this is further compounded by shipping difficulties. I do not expect this to change in the short term. I also believe the two hurricanes currently causing significant devastation in the US will continue to impact this imported product,” he said.