Amman -

With boycott campaigns, Jordanians are facing successive rises in the prices of basic food commodities, not least poultry and table eggs. Fresh slaughtered chickens recorded a rise of more than 30%, live chickens increased by 15%, and table eggs increased by 12% during the current month, according to traders. and consumers.

During the past days, several hashtags - most notably #Chicken_boycott, #Together_for_Chicken_and_eggs and #Boycott_chicken_a national_interest - have topped social media platforms in Jordan, in popular calls for a boycott of chicken, in order to pressure producing companies, traders and farmers to reduce their prices, according to campaign organizers.

During the weekend, activists on social media platforms circulated pictures of alternative foods to poultry, and Jordanian dishes that were missing chicken, in an attempt to increase the response to the boycott campaigns.

price ceilings

According to specialists, what caused the rise in poultry prices during the current month is due to the Jordanian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply canceling the applicable price ceilings for these foodstuffs during the month of Ramadan, leaving the markets to “the policy of supply and demand, and the consumer is at the mercy of producers and traders,” according to the Protection Association. consumer.

The decision to cancel the price ceilings was preceded by a state of interruption and scarcity of chickens offered in the market for several days, according to experts, in order to “pressure the ministry to cancel the price ceilings,” which took place at the beginning of this month.

The Consumer Protection Association and social media activists are counting on boycott campaigns to confront the ferocity of markets, and the policy of high prices, which are extending the world’s food and food due to the consequences of the Corona pandemic, the crisis of the Russian war on Ukraine, and climate change.

Jordanians launched campaigns to boycott eggs and chickens (Al-Jazeera)

on the earth

On the ground, everyone in the markets is complaining about bad economic conditions and stagnating markets.

The consumer complains about the high prices of most basic food commodities, the seller complains about the low turnout and the decline in purchasing power, and the merchant complains about the global rise in commodity prices, and the taxes imposed on them;

Resulting in the accumulation of goods and the accumulation of losses.

And among the refrigerators of frozen items in the sugar market downtown in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Fouad Al-Shula, the fiftieth, is looking for a meal of fish or minced meat to be an alternative to chicken, stressing in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that “chicken prices rose insanely after the month of Ramadan, from two dinars ($ 2.8). ) to 2.90 dinars ($4) per kilo, and live chicken (pumps) increased from 1.65 dinars ($2.3) to two ($2.8), and frozen chicken from 1.65 dinars ($2.3) to 2.75 dinars ($3.8).

Manal Al-Zagha ​​shares the complaint about the forty-year heights. “Chicken is necessary for the family and it is difficult to dispense with it, but I am committed to boycotting it until prices are controlled and lowered. There are families who cannot buy one or two pieces of chicken to cook for the family,” she said.

A wanderer in the corridors of the popular market hears the complaints of shop owners about the accumulation of poultry in the refrigerators due to the lack of demand and the boycott campaigns;

Seller Samer Sobhi speaks to Al Jazeera Net, saying, "The demand for chicken during the weekend decreased by about 30%, despite the presence of salaries and the improvement in the market for other materials such as fish, meat and others, which forced me to reduce the quantities of chicken in the shop."

cost and feed

In parallel, the investor in the chicken sector, Hani Al-Ghazawi, talks to Al Jazeera Net about an increase in feed prices in the local market that exceeded 100%;

"The feedstock was sold for 250 dinars ($352), and currently at 530 dinars ($747), in addition to the high costs of production requirements, energy, shipping, and others."

The Jordanian Agricultural Engineers Association talks about a number of reasons that led to the high prices of animal products, the most important of which are:

  • The increase in production inputs, especially feed, by 70% during the past four months, especially corn and soy, which constitute an essential component for feeding poultry.

  • Feed constitutes 75% of the cost of rearing.

  • Import shipping costs increased by 10% from the beginning of the year.

The Syndicate fears calls for a boycott, because it would weaken the ability of small investors to continue production, leave the market, lose jobs and disrupt investments, and create new problems without reaching a solution.

According to official statistics, the value of investments in the poultry sector amounts to 1.5 billion dinars ($2.1 billion) and provides about 40,000 workers. These investments achieve self-sufficiency in the Kingdom of poultry and table eggs, with a surplus of about 20%.

If censorship is absent and conscience is absent, we will have no choice but to boycott as an effective civilized method, otherwise we will remain a victim of greed and exploitation.

#Chicken_boycott_national_duty

— Dr. Tuqa Al-Majali 🇯🇴 (@lawyertuqa) May 28, 2022

prosecution

The National Society for Consumer Protection, which calls for the boycott, confirmed the real existence of global increases in feed and shipping, but the rise in the prices of poultry and table eggs in the markets exceeded the rates of rise in the prices of feed, shipping and transportation in the world.

The head of the association, Muhammad Obeidat, told Al-Jazeera Net that the campaign that started last week continues and has received a response from consumers to respond to the unjustified rises, calling on the ministries of industry and agriculture to do their duty to protect the food security of citizens from a state of chaos and chaos in the prices of these basic materials.

In response to the boycott campaign and its expansion, the Poultry and Feed Investors Association threatened to file lawsuits against those calling for the boycott, due to its harm to the interests of investors and its negative impact on markets and the national economy.

The head of the association, Abdul Shakour Jamjoom, said that chickens are available in the markets at "moderate prices that are fair to the consumer and investor," stressing that poultry prices in Jordan "will not decrease due to global increases in feed, the sales tax imposed by the authorities on fodder at a rate of 5%, and the continuation of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis."

less than neighboring countries

Officially, the Ministries of Industry and Agriculture held the global rise in feed prices responsible for the prices of poultry and eggs, and confirmed the absence of any monopolistic practices for chickens in the local market, especially with the presence of many producing companies, and opening the door to import from abroad.

The Ministry of Agriculture argues that prices in local markets are cheaper than in neighboring countries, according to a study conducted by the ministry, without talking about any reduction in the sales tax imposed on fodder.

The Jordanian local market consumes about 700,000 birds of chicken daily, and Jordan is achieving a state of self-sufficiency in poultry and table eggs, as the produced quantities reach 130 percent of the market need.

It is noteworthy that the authorities have reduced the fees for examining and inspecting imported goods by 30%, in order to face the successive rises in commodity prices.