A leading halal poultry supplier has raised prices of their products for the second time in a week.

In the past week many Asian stores have been accused of doubling their prices of meat and chicken. This week Gafoor Poultry raised their prices for the second time in a week say butchers.

It is believed that wholesale prices have risen by 30 per cent in a week.

Gafoor Poultry have now said they refuted this figure and said they 'not raised our prices (wholesale) to £3 per chicken and £5+pkg for fillet (chicken breasts).' They also said they had 'no control over the prices charged to the public'.

According to butchers, Gafoor Poultry increased their prices by 30/40 pence last week. The price they say has now gone up today (Monday March 23) by a further 80p. Both fugures are refuted by Gafoor Poultry.

HMC prices tend to be on average 15p higher than other prices.

In a week Gafoor Poultry has, according to prices sent to butchers, raised prices on a range of chicken products.

Shoppers heading to their local butchers can expect to see another hike in prices, especially at a time of national crisis.

On Wednesday and Thursday chicken was hard to come by in many halal butchers after panic buying led to short supplies.

We have learnt how suppliers text butchers and cash and carries with different prices regularly.

The price hikes last week, although minimal at the beginning of the week, were being translated into higher prices at Asian stores and butchers with some shops selling chickens for £5.

Some stores were taken advantage of demand and the price rise to charge customers a much higher price.

Others kept their prices steady and sold chickens for £3 or £3.50. Even at the cheapest store the price is likely to go up to close to £4 a chicken. Chicken breast may now put shoppers back £6 per kg.

A butcher told us today, “We have tried our best not to pass this on to the customer but this will be unavoidable. Last week people were blaming us.”

On Wednesday Gafoor Poultry released a message to their customers telling price rises last week.

A new statement has now been released to us today. In it the company said, "As of 23 March our prices for Fresh British Chicken will rise by approximately 10%. This does not mean that our prices will raise to the level of prices that have been reported. This price is in line with an increase in the cost of production of the live chicken and will allow us to pass this increase back on to the farmer.

"Wholesale butchers will then need to add what they deem reasonable to cover their own business costs and allow them to make a profit. Gafoor have no control over the prices charged to the public."

The company blamed the 'increase in boiler feed prices' and 'the level of fresh chicken into Britain' from mainland Europe."

They also again asked members of the public not to panic buy and that supplies would be met and they were 'extremely confident that our supply of chicken will not be impacted over the forthcoming weeks'.

We asked for Gafoor to clarify the price rises sent to suppliers detailed. They said these were 'quotes'. 

The full statement is here

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