Some warned that farmers may now withhold poultry from the market and cause yet more shortages.
The price of chicken has tripled in recent months to around 80,000 rials per kilo or $1.90 per pound. Most analysts attribute to this to two factors—first, the plummeting value of the rial which has shot up the cost of imported chicken feed, and, second, a shortage of feed because US banking sanctions has made it difficult for Iran to make payments for imports. A few months ago, several ships carrying animal feed waited off Bandar Abbas for payment. When payment was not received, they all sailed away.
The price of chicken has become a surrogate issue for the mismanagement of the economy. Chicken has become an albatross hanging around the neck of the government.
The Ahmadi-nejad Administration last month put subsidized chickens on sale for 47,000 rials a kilo or $1.12 a pound. Newspapers were filled with photos showing immense lines of people waiting patiently for the subsidized chicken. Those lines and photos simply underscored the government’s chicken problem.
Regime supporters have been desperate to try to explain away the problem.
In Shiraz, for example, Friday prayers leader Asadollah Imami told congregants firmly, “There are no shortages.” He said the problem was psychological warfare waged against Iran by its Western enemies. “These psychological wars lead to a false demand for goods in the country.”
He complained of false media reports alleging there was a chicken shortage and said such erroneous news reports prompted Iranians to buy chicken beyond their needs, causing a market imbalance. This has been a theme heard frequently around the country.
State television recently carried a 37-minute program on the chicken problem. It interviewed representatives of poultry farmers who said the farmers have not gotten their usual supplies of chicken feed.
The interviewer than talked to Mosayyeb Mohammadian-Shomali, executive director of the State Livestock Logistics Co., which distributes animal feed. He stated flatly that there is more than enough animal feed to supply the country’s need for this entire year. He said the rising cost of chicken must be found somewhere else. He did not suggest where that somewhere else is.
In the United States, according to the National Chicken Council, the price per pound of a broiler chicken passed $1 in 1997, passed $1.20 in 2008 and passed $1.30 this year.