00:00Several check-in depots mainly based in South Trinidad have been experiencing a
00:05shortage of check-in for the past month. Some have been forced to reduce their
00:10hours of operations, others close altogether and still others even
00:15increase their prices. Mahabir Meats on the Separia Aran Road tells their
00:20customers via Facebook they will experience delays and deliveries due to
00:24the shortage. R&A Poultry Depot says it will be closed on certain days due to
00:30what it describes as a massive shortage. We traced back the customers complaints
00:35to one supplier based in South. Donna Kalu of Round the Corner Depot explains
00:41what has been related to her. The supplier said that due to the bird flu, it had a lot of
00:50spoiled eggs and the shipment didn't come in at in time so they had a lot of
00:56it didn't get they didn't get enough shipment of eggs so they didn't get like
01:05to do the hatchery the hatchery didn't get enough eggs. According to a CBC
01:10report filed 18 hours ago, the share scale of the US bird flu outbreak is
01:16hard to fathom. This is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and
01:21Prevention's latest update which says some 100 million farmed birds have been
01:26infected with the H5N1 virus since 2022. Five US egg farms this year as of April
01:3324th 2024 had been hit causing approximately 9.5 million layers to be
01:40depopulated. Here in Trinidad, Donna faces complaints from upset customers.
01:46But it's because they're not getting the chicken and it's like when they go
01:52elsewhere they're not getting either if they do get it it's very small chicken
01:57the price high. Meanwhile, head of the Poultry Association Robin Phillips denies
02:02that there's any shortage but he did say that the company he's affiliated with
02:06Arawak has been getting more calls from non-traditional customers. Phillips
02:13assures us that Arawak's fast-food clients are receiving their usual stock.
02:18Phillips went on to say that imported chicken declined by 30% since May and it
02:24will take a while he explained before local producers up their output to match
02:28the local demand. Meanwhile, when contacted Shamir Rani
02:32Mohammed director of the Marabella based Nutramix group which is behind the
02:37Nutrina farms also denies any shortage. He says quote we at Nutramix are not
02:43aware of any shortages of chicken that you are referring to. You are free to
02:46look at our hatching eggs import data which is available at PSU which would
02:52confirm that our production is consistent over the past six months end
02:57quote. As customers complain of egg and chicken price increases agriculture
03:02Minister Qasim Hussain did not respond to all queries up until news time.
03:07Arvishi Tamari, Rupnayan, TV6 News
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