- Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
Lloyd Weise, weighing beef in the Cross Roads Market in Kingston yesterday.
Damion Mitchell, Staff Reporter
CONSUMERS WILL have to pay more for beef within the next two months, several butchers said yesterday.
"It (the price of beef) was increased recently and it is going to increase again within the next two months. Ten dollars more per pound will go on it," said Clive McLeod, a butcher who sells in the Mandeville Market in Manchester.
Currently one pound of beef costs $50 in the Mandeville Market - $10 more than the November price.
Lloyd Weise, who sells at the Cross Roads Market in Kingston, said that very shortly consumers would be paying between $90 and $95 per pound for beef at that market. "It's on. We will have to raise it again," he said.
Last week Agriculture Minister, Roger Clarke, said that there could be a price increase with the heightened demand for local beef following the December 23 temporary ban on beef from the United States Jamaica's largest supplier of beef and beef products.
The ban was imposed after a cow in Yakima, Washington, was tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy more commonly known as Mad Cow disease.
On Tuesday, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and beef importers and distributors agreed to turn to Australia and New Zealand as alternative markets. They are also considering importing the product from four other countries.
In the meantime, several butchers say the difficulty to identify cows for slaughtering has been spiralling within the recent months. As a result, they said that the owners of the animals were demanding higher prices, which had to be passed on to consumers.
Mr. McLeod, who sells an average 1,000 pounds of beef per week, explained that just over one year ago, many cattle owners sold out their herds due to the low prices that they were fetching. "They did not go back in the business and so right now we don't have the amount of cows that we need to supply here."
He said that consequently some of his colleagues have been selling larger quantities of other meats such as pork to fill the demands for meat.
RAPID PRICE INCREASE
Ashlie Sutherland has been selling in the Cross Roads Market for the past eight years. "More people are demanding the local meat. They are really not buying the foreign stuff, but we are still expecting rapid price increase," he said. "All the butchers that supply us with meat are bawling that the price they have to buy the cows for is high. So if we are not willing to raise the price we won't be able to get any beef. Now I have to be taking little or no profit to stay in the business."
At its November meeting, the beef committee of the Jamaica Livestock Association recommended that the live weight price for cattle be increased. It had cited "the shortage of cattle islandwide and the harsh economic climate facing cattle farmers," as its reasons for suggesting the increase.
