Jamaican now experiencing Pork Shortage – How Ready to Eat Pork causes Jamaicans to Love Pork as Processors want imports

“By November, few of our processors indicated that they had seen an increase in the normal demand for Pork and Pork products. So somewhere around November, we recognised that we would have the supply up to the December period, but thereafter, we would go into a shortage in the early part of the year”

President of the JPFA (Jamaica Pig Farmers Association), Hanif Brown commenting on the Pork Shortage in Jamaica

There is currently a chicken Shortage in Jamaica thanks to an outbreak of avian influenza Virus or H5N2 in the US of A and Canada as noted in my blog article entitled “Ministry of Agriculture bans US, Canadian Chicken Products - Why H2N2 Avian Flu is Shadows of 2014 Chicken Shortage during Easter 2015”.

Now it seems, there is also a shortage of Pork in Jamaica as well , based on questions asked of owners of local eateries in Kingston that supply Pork on their menus as noted in the article “Pork Shortage Reaches Eateries”, published Wednesday April 22, 2015 by Tameka Gordon, The Jamaica Gleaner.

This debunks claims by Copperwood Pork a subsidiary of Jamaica Broilers had claimed in March 2015 that there was no Pork shortage as argued in the article “Copperwood Says Pork Shortage Is Cooked Up”, published Friday March 6, 2015 by Tameka Gordon, The Jamaica Gleaner.

In fact, Copperwood Pork claimed that it was being artificially created by the some local Processors who wanted to use cheaper imported Pork to gain a competitive advantage over some local producers. In other words, they claim these producers were taking advantage of problems with local supply of Pork to make money from cheaper imports.

Imports are not banned but are merely avoided due to moral suasion by the former Minister of Agriculture, the later Roger Clarke, who convinced many Processors not to import Pork and support the local Pork industry.

So what’s the status of Jamaica Pork consumption that could have caused this shortage of supply? I though Jamaican hardly ate Pork in the first place! Actually we’re slowly developing a taste for the white Meat.

Jamaican Pork Shortage – Producer scale back due to glut as demand rises

The major suppliers of Pork in Jamaica are as follows:

1.      Caribbean Broilers Group through subsidiary Copperwood Pork

2.      Caribbean Producers Jamaica Limited

3.      Arosa Limited

Currently Jamaica consumes some 10 million to 11 million kilogrammes per year of Pork annually albeit this is a lot less than our American counterparts.

Still, local Pork consumption has been rising since November 2014, when producers made it known that there was an impending shortage of Pork and there would be a need to import Pork as noted in the article “Pork In Short Supply: Processors Push For Imports But Consumers Unaffected”, Published Tuesday February 24, 2015 by Tameka Gordon, The Jamaica Gleaner.

President of the JPFA (Jamaica Pig Farmers Association), Hanif Brown, agrees that there is a shortage of Pork, but claims that the processors of Pork would be able to catch up with local demand within three (3) months if allowed to import Pork. He expect that by September 2015, with importation, the Pork supply with catch up with demand and that normalcy will return by the First Quarter of 2016.

However, it might be a lot longer than that, as the current shortage was caused by Pig farmers opting out of the market after oversupply created a glut. Combined with the rising costs of production, many Pig farmers to stay in business scaled back their production, resulting in the current shortage of Pork on the market.

Jamaican Pork Shortage – How Ready to Eat Pork makes Jamaicans develop a love for Pork

So even if the Local producing were to ramp up to meet the rising demand,  the Ministry of Agriculture would have to factor in the ten (10) months between breeding and getting the Pig fit to be sold on the market. So Importation is inevitable, as without it many an eatery will continue experience shortages of the now in-demand White Meat. 

Most Jamaicans, from my personal experience, cannot bother with the long process involved in cooking Pork as well as an inability to cook it properly as explained in my blog article entitled “Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Pork PR for increased Production - Jamaicans don’t like Pork Because they cannot cook it”.

Alternatives to cooking Pork include pre-cooked Pork products from companies such as Ready to Cook Pork produced by Agricultural Processor CPJ (Caribbean Producers Jamaica) as described in my blog article entitled “CPJ introduces Ready to Cook Pork – Why Jamaicans don’t like Pork solved by making Pork ready under 30 Minutes”.

Possibly, this increased demand is an indication that their initiative is working too well.  With increasing demand, it appears that Jamaicans are developing a taste for Pork, based on the reports from eateries in Kingston reporting a shortage as interviewed by Gleaner Reporter Tameka Gordon.

I won’t reproduce their responses in my blog article, but suffice it to say, I’m sure that many Jamaicans that buy Pork can attest to the increasing price of the White Meat and even difficulties in getting their Pork Fix.

But if supply and demand for Pork won’t normalize until the First Quarter of 2016, then I’d recommend to all Pork lovers to stock up on Pork for Christmas 2015 as of today.