Chicken shortage hits Trinidad as US avian flu, heat squeeze supply

Trinidad and Tobago’s chicken shortage is a supply crisis — driven by heat-reduced farm placements and a US avian influenza outbreak cutting hatching-egg exports — that has pushed retail prices in some areas to TT$9 per pound and prompted the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to warn that full shelf normalisation will not arrive for approximately five weeks.

The supply squeeze is being driven simultaneously by domestic weather extremes and disruptions in the United States hatching-egg market, compressing the pipeline from chick to shelf.

• Exceptionally hot weather has forced broiler farmers to reduce bird placements by roughly 20%; Broiler Growers’ Association president Sudesh Ramkissoon said farmers who normally house 10,000 birds are cutting placements to as few as 7,000.
• South Trinidad poultry operators report receiving up to 50% fewer birds from suppliers, with the retail price of chicken rising from approximately TT$5.99 to as much as TT$9 per pound in the area.
• St Mary’s Hatchery owner Vijay Bhagwat cited a significant decline in chick supply from the United States, linked to an avian influenza outbreak that has decimated breeding flocks; hatch rates at some local hatcheries have fallen below the expected average of 65 percent.
• Pappy’s Fried Chicken confirmed it has had to ration chicken across its branches, with director Shahinder Singh saying the company normally takes 40 to 60 cases of chicken per week but could not secure its usual volume or sizes.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries says chick availability is expected to increase within two weeks, but the full production cycle means shelves will not see normal levels for approximately five weeks total.
• Prestige Holdings Limited, which operates KFC, said it was unaffected due to a strategic supply partnership with Arawak, while the Darul Uloom Halaal Council issued a notice urging Muslim consumers to verify that available chicken came from Halal-verified sources.