Ashgabat stores are again experiencing irregular supply of chicken meat, which is in short supply even in privately-owned retail outlets. Chicken and chicken drumsticks were available in sufficient quantity only a few weeks before the New Year holidays.
Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that last week a restriction of 2 chicken drumsticks per customer applied in stores located at Jennet bazaar. Over the past few days they have been either unavailable or sold with a restriction of one drumstick per person.
Despite the availability of chicken on the counters, some state-run stores do not sell it. Shop assistants said that pursuant to the instruction from the high-ranking authorities, the store counters should have groceries on display. However, since there is no chicken in the warehouses, they have no produce to sell to residents.
Customers complain that in the stores which sell 1 chicken drumstick per person shop assistants pack chicken in a plastic bag filled with 200 to 300 grams of ice. The shop assistants reply to outraged customers that the latter are free not to buy any chicken at all.
A kilo of chicken in state-run stores costs 13 manats. Only bank cards are accepted.