No increase in meat prices for now

The rise in the cost of grains on the international market is likely to have an impact on local meat and poultry products.

But Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), James Paul, who told Barbados TODAY that he has been monitoring the international development, said there has been no increase in meat or poultry products locally thus far.

“At the moment, we have no indication that meat or poultry prices have gone up. In other words, right now we have held our prices on the local market and my anticipation is that those prices will hold for a while before anything happens. So, Barbadians don’t have to worry about having to pay more for, let’s say, meat at this time or in the very near future,” he said.

Paul explained that the cost of grains has risen internationally, mainly because Chinese are eating more meat products which has led to a demand for grain to make feed.

However, he said, grain production is still relatively steady.

“And then, when you have climatic threats from time to time which might compromise the production of, say, corn or cereal as the case may be, or soya, you will find that once there are shortages then the prices go up, and when there is a surplus the prices go down. That is just the behaviour for supply and demand of products on the international market and that is how it is,” Paul said.

“So, I think for this winter, they are predicting that Argentina, or the southern hemisphere where you have Brazil and Argentina producing a lot of corn or soya, the prices will go up because there is less corn available. They tend to ration it, if you get where I am coming from. This is just normal supply and demand behaviour on the international market that is happening, which is completely natural.” (AH)