Campaign calls for boycott of poultry, eggs amid price hike

AMMAN — Social media users have launched an online campaign calling for a national boycott of poultry and eggs.

The hashtag “#Together to boycott poultry and eggs”, topped hits on social media platforms, as many citizens expressed their disappointment towards the government amid removing the price cap for poultry. 

Meanwhile, the ministries of Agriculture, and Industry and Trade and Supply on Wednesday stressed that there is “no monopoly on poultry” in the local market, where 700,000 chickens are provided to the market on a daily basis.

In a joint statement, cited by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the two ministries said that price hikes of poultry in the local market is due to the increase of production costs locally, including the fodder cost, where the price of one tonne of corn increased from JD170 to JD360 and one tonne of soya from JD340 to JD540.

Commenting on the issue, Abdel Shakour Jamjoum, president of Poultry Investors Association, said that poultry prices are low but Jordanians’ income is “weak”.

He added that despite the price hike, the price of fresh chicken in Jordan is “among the lowest in the world”.

The high prices of all goods, including poultry and eggs, weighs heavily on citizens who are fed up with the consequences of the high shipping costs and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, according to social media users. 

Abdallah Al Saroom, a Facebook user, called on citizens to abide by the boycott until poultry prices are even lower than they were during Ramadan. 

“We cannot afford to eat red meat or fish,” said Tharwat Harahsheh, a Facebook user, adding that there is no justification for this price increase. 

Harahsheh listed all the items that have witnessed a price increase during the past two months, which were: Vegetable oil, rice, sugar, fertilisers, as well as cheese. 

She expressed her hope that the boycotting campaign will be able to reduce the prices of all these essential commodities for any household.   

Jamjoum noted the price cap, which was set by the ministry of industry, trade and supply, was only meant to be in place during the month of Ramadan. 

“Chicken feed’s price has increased globally since the beginning of the pandemic,” Jamjoum noted.

Additionally, the dust wave has damaged chicken farms significantly, he added. 

Jamjoom cited several reasons for the increase in poultry prices, including the high cost of running livestock farms, the increased demand for poultry compared with the demand for red meat, as well as the increased restaurant demand for fresh chicken instead of imported chicken due to its lower price.

Jamjoom called on the government to abolish taxes, support producers and the agricultural sector.