Poultry producers upset at chicken smuggling

The Guyana Poultry Producers Association (GPPA) yesterday called on government to urgently address the smuggling of chicken over the country’s eastern and southern borders and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) said it was aware of the problem and is addressing it.

Their call comes even as local producers bemoan the current cost of feed here, while some producers in Region Nine lament that production against competition from Brazil was not sustainable.

“Poultry Producers are alarmed at the increased visibility of smuggled chicken on the local market. These mainly arrive via our eastern and southern borders,” the GPPA yesterday said in a statement.

“…Poultry producers are concerned about increased smuggling activities. It is affecting investments in the local industry as planning and forecasting becomes very difficult, even the importation of hatching eggs becomes hard to plan leading to shortages and decline in local production. In consequence, smuggling activities is disruptive to our national and regional goals of achieving food security,” the body added.

The group charged that checks with retailers revealed that the smuggling is done by city basedpersons well known for this kind of activity. Sources say that surveillance and enforcement are being frustrated by the smugglers’ connections to persons in authority.

The GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia, told Stabroek News yesterday that the agency is aware of complaints of smuggling and is investigating. However, sources told this newspaper that while the GRA is actively investigating, it could not divulge details of that operation.

It was explained by a source that to offset high chicken demand during the

Christmas holiday season, importation licences were issued to some business persons who would have still had to pay the requisite duty. Those licences covered a certain quota and were only valid for a specified period.

Leading up to the Christmas holidays, Chicken prices averaged around $500 per pound, but following the licence issuances, prices remained stable at around $400 and there were no shortages.

And while the rest of the world grappled with the high cost of eggs, that commodity was in ample supply here and averaged around $1,300 per 30-egg tray.