And in other news… bread, chicken, and now eggs - the cost of basic food items are on the rise and while the Belize Poultry Association tried to stave off the increase, it came into effect yesterday.
Grocery owners now pay $9 more for a wholesale crate of eggs. And while they're feeling the pinch, the Association's manager, Armando Cowo, says that some of them have been price gouging. That's right - some grocers are selling an egg for 50 cents each!
Cowo explained that in those cases, the consumers are being taken advantage of, but there's only so much they can do since they can't lower their costs because of the increase in the price of chicken feed - which is related right back to an increase in the price of gas.
He explained it to us via Zoom today:
Armando Cowo, Manager, Belize Poultry Association
"The price increase is a reality now and the price went from $96 for a crate to $105. One crate brings 12 trays or 12 cartons that contains 30 eggs each. That brings us to $875 wholesale price of those eggs. I understand some grocers are charged 50 cents an egg. If you do the math, 30 eggs, divided by $875, you'll get like 30 cents an egg wholesale. 30 cents an egg wholesale, even if you still sell them at 3 eggs for a dollar, you're cutting your profit margin to ten cents, you're still making ten cents. So when I hear about people charging 50 cents for an egg, personally, I'm amazed."
"The reason for that is because there have been recent price increase in the feed that we feed the birds, that's the main reason, and I don't know how the fuel, I'm assuming the fuel is impacting the farmers who are producing the corn and the soybean, at what level, I really don't have control over that. I really don't know. But then again we have had increases in the premix the premix is the minerals and the vitamins that come from abroad, we source them from Europe and Holland from reliable companies. And we have this situation where they fuel prices is being stabilized by our government here in Belize, it doesn't apply to international freight and shipping and the cost of other countries where they're producing these."
"We need to understand that eggs are the cheapest source of protein that we have on the market, animal protein that is, and understandably so, there's a huge demand for it because the price of everything else went up except for the eggs, when we did the price increase in poultry prices in April, we didn't increase the eggs, we were still hedging our bets that we could have survived and ride it out but we cannot and with the price increases, we have to look at the reality on the ground and adjust."
And while there is no standardized pricing of eggs, Cowo mentioned that he would encourage the Belize Bureau of Standards to look into the obvious price gouging.
