Santo Domingo – A significant poultry supply crisis has emerged in the Dominican Republic during the critical holiday season, contradicting official claims of market stability. Major commercial associations report severe chicken shortages nationwide, creating operational challenges for retailers and forcing consumers to face rationing measures and substantial price increases.
Industry representatives appearing on the television program ‘Despierta con CDN’ provided detailed accounts of the situation. Jorge Jerez from the National Provisions Council, Lesseps Divani de León representing the Santo Domingo Provisions Wholesalers Association (Amaprosado), and José Veras of the Dominican Federation of Merchants (Fenacerd) unanimously confirmed that suppliers are delivering dramatically reduced quantities compared to merchant requests.
The supply chain disruption affects businesses across scales, from major supermarket chains to small grocery stores, food stalls, and fried food vendors. Current market prices reflect the severity of the shortage, with supermarket chicken selling for approximately RD$79 per pound while wholesale markets reach RD$93 per pound. After accounting for additional distribution costs, consumers ultimately pay between RD$110 and RD$120 per pound.
Evidence of the crisis includes the rapid sellout of nearly 80,000 pounds of chicken at a recent Inespre fair. Market analysts point to multiple potential causes including intermediary manipulation, production planning failures, discrepancies between official data and actual output, and residual effects of previous avian health outbreaks that impacted poultry production capacity.
Compounding the problem, anticipatory buying driven by shortage fears has created speculative market behavior that further drives price inflation. The protein shortage coincides with rising costs for other essential food items, with plantains now selling for RD$30-RD$35 in markets and up to RD$45 in smaller shops, while cassava reaches RD$35-RD$40 per pound, indicating broad inflationary pressure on Dominican food baskets during the holiday period.