Despite the government’s efforts to enhance food security, control markets and avoid any shortage of basic commodities, consumers continue to complain about the continued scarcity of chicken inside cooperative societies and supermarkets.
However, when the government inspection teams from the Food Security System paid a visit to the cooperative societies following complaints of shortage, called the crisis ‘artificial’ because some vested interests have refrained from supplying the chicken products to the stores with the aim of making a quick buck.
The tour, which was organized under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the inspectors discovered plenty of frozen chicken products were available.
Despite the assurances from government officials about the availability of goods and the abundance of food stocks, the commercial advisor to the Zahra Cooperative Society, Abdul Rasoul Sarkhoh, confirmed that there is a problem in the process of supplying local poultry to the cooperative societies.
Sarkhoh revealed on the sidelines of the tour that the problem in the shortage of poultry and the current crisis is artificial by local poultry companies, which refrain from providing cooperatives with their products due to their request for an increase in prices.
He added: “We rejected this required increase in poultry prices, and consequently some local companies refrained from supplying the product, which created a shortage in the quantities within cooperative societies, pointing out at the same time that the products in the companies are widely available and sufficient for a long period of time.
He pointed out that the cooperative societies are the first line of defense for the strategic stockpile in Kuwait and have a monthly plan to provide the stock according to the current conditions that Kuwait is going through.
The Assistant Undersecretary for the Cooperation Sector in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Hiyam Al-Khudair, said that the food stock is good and reassuring, noting that there is price control by the Ministry of Commerce and keenness to follow it up by the relevant committees.
With regard to poultry, Al-Khudair explained that the matter is under study to explain the reasons for the discontinuation from the companies, and we will develop solutions, pointing out that the observations about the increase in prices and their disparity between cooperative societies relate to the mechanisms of some boards of directors, stressing that the Ministry of Affairs is monitoring the situation.
The Head of Inspection of the Ministry of Commerce in Farwaniya Governorate, Abdul Azim Al-Shammari, pointed out that inspectors are deployed to check on associations which involve in profiteering, shops or companies, and we refer such companies to the commercial prosecution to take the necessary action.
6 steps required to control the markets
1 – Tightening control and intensifying market tours
2 – Punishing companies that refrain from supplying chicken
3 – Increasing coordination between the concerned state agencies
4 – Referring the perpetrators of the artificial high prices to the prosecution
5 – Working to increase local products
6 – Opening new alternatives to import major commodities
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