Consumers across Belize are facing higher grocery bills starting this week, after the Belize Poultry Association (BPA) announced an immediate across-the-board price increase for all poultry products. The country’s leading poultry industry group confirmed in an official press statement that whole chicken will see a 12-cent per pound price jump effective immediately, with proportional price adjustments rolling out for all other poultry goods – including specialty cuts and processed poultry products – that vary by item.
Industry leaders clarified that the price adjustment is not a discretionary increase, but a necessary response to months of escalating production costs that have squeezed profit margins for local poultry farmers and producers. The BPA’s statement notes that key input costs required for raising and processing chicken have climbed steadily over the past year, leaving producers with no viable option but to pass a portion of these extra costs onto consumers.
According to senior industry officials, the most dramatic cost surges have hit core production inputs: feed staples corn and soybeans, production fuel, and nutritional premixes added to poultry feed. These steadily rising overhead costs have placed persistent financial strain on small and large poultry operations across Belize for months, prompting the second industry-wide price adjustment of 2026.
The 12-cent per pound increase marks the second whole chicken price hike this year. Back in March 2026, the BPA approved a more modest 6-cent per pound increase. Combined with the latest adjustment, total whole chicken prices have risen by a full 18 cents per pound in 2026 alone.
Pre-existing price trend data from Belize’s official statistical body backs up the industry’s claims of growing cost pressures. The Statistical Institute of Belize reports that chicken prices were already climbing steadily before the latest BPA announcement. As of May 2026, the national average retail price for whole chicken hit $3.33 per pound, up from $3.22 per pound in May 2025. Retail prices for popular individual cuts including legs and wings have also recorded year-over-year increases over the same 12-month period.