Soaring Price of Chicken Causes Concern in Morocco
(AWP) - The increasing price of poultry in recent weeks has angered Moroccans who are already struggling with declining purchasing power due to pressures on the North African kingdom’s economy.
With the price of one kilogram of chicken exceeding 20 Moroccan dirhams (roughly $2) in some areas, citizens have expressed their frustration over the rising costs of other basic goods and services.
Ahmed, a Moroccan man, said these costs are beyond the purchasing power of citizens who are facing consecutive price hikes in all aspects of life, and urged the state to intervene and regulate the market.
He said, “The price of chicken is skyrocketing. Rising prices add to people’s suffering, along with increased costs of gas, meat, vegetables and so on. Potatoes are 10 Moroccan dirhams [roughly $1]. Carrots also cost 10 dirhams. Chicken costs 20 dirhams. It is too much.”
Chicken sellers also complain about the high prices, appealing to the government to intervene on the grounds that the increases harm their trade and threaten their livelihood as purchases are dwindling.
Fathallah Moti’e, a chicken seller, expressed hope that poultry prices will decrease, explaining that the costs of labour, water and electricity have become burdensome and have led profits to plummet.
He said, “The high price of chicken is harming our business. It has reached 20 dirhams. This is above people’s purchasing power. They used to buy four or five chickens but now they buy only one. Some ask about the price and then walk away when they hear it.”
Moti’e continued, “We used to sell 4-5 quintals of chicken meat daily, but now we sell only one or two. I think the price rise was caused by the increased demand and vice versa. The more available it is on the market, the lower its price will be.”
However, some producers indicated that the reason for this price hike was a problem regarding the supply of chicks from Spain to Morocco in February, negatively impacting production in the country over the past couple of months.
Abdul-Rahman al-Riyadi, a member of the National Board for Meat Producers, said the poultry prices have seen a rise during recent weeks, adding it is a relative increase compared to those in the past few months, but the hike may be blamed on problems with the production of chicks.
Riyadi, who is also the owner of a chicken farm, said, “Morocco imports from 300,000 to 320,000 chicks per month. In late February, a problem occurred with the poultry supply from Spain for nearly a month, which affected the production of chicks. We imported less than 60,000 chicks.”
He added, “The poultry that failed to arrive in February had an impact on production during October and November. I believe things will get back to normal and balance will be restored to the market once again.”