Jamjoum: Chicken and eggs are two essential commodities in the food security system

Demands to freeze the 5% feed tax

The head of the Poultry Investors Association, Engineer Abdul Shakour Jamjoum, revealed that the local chicken market has witnessed weak purchasing power against a high volume of production, which led to a decline in prices to their lowest levels, at a time when breeders are facing a significant rise in production costs, especially feed prices.

In a statement to (Alrai), Jamjoum explained that the price of a ton of feed has risen from about 300 dinars to more than 400 dinars, while the prices of corn and soy have risen from about 220 dinars to 275 dinars, noting that the two materials constitute about 80% of the chicken feed mixture.

He confirmed that the rise in corn and soy prices is linked to the increase in global demand for them, as a result of new markets entering the consumption cycle with larger quantities, which has reflected on local production costs and exacerbated breeders' losses in light of the decline in selling prices.

Jamjoum indicated that the prices of live chicken range between 1.10 and 1.15 dinars per kilogram, while fresh chicken prices remain at low levels, whereas the price of a tray of eggs ranges between two and a half dinars and two dinars and sixty piasters.

He emphasized that the continued rise in production costs, coinciding with the decline in selling prices, places breeders before increasing financial challenges and threatens their ability to continue production, warning that continued losses may push some of them to leave the sector.

He pointed out that the exit of breeders from the market could lead to a decline in local production capacity, which may disrupt the market and affect the stability of chicken and egg supplies in the future, stressing that maintaining the continuity of local farms is a necessity to ensure the availability of these essential commodities.

Jamjoum called on the government to freeze the 5% tax on feed during the current phase, with the aim of alleviating financial burdens on breeders and helping them continue production, in addition to ensuring the continuity of feed supplies and their availability at reasonable prices.

He stressed that chicken and eggs constitute one of the pillars of food security in the Kingdom, which requires taking measures that support the sustainability of the sector and protect farmers from the accumulation of losses, in a way that ensures the continuation of local production and meeting market needs without disruption.

The Kingdom's daily consumption is estimated at about 600,000 chickens, in addition to about 4 million eggs per day.

The Kingdom includes about 2,000 chicken farms, 300 of which are dedicated to laying hens and 100 for breeding parent stock, in addition to 8 large projects for poultry production and breeding.