Samoa's residents have been affected by a nationwide shortage of chicken meat with one major retail outlet in the capital Apia blaming delayed shipment.

According to Samoa Government data, the country imported 60 containers of chicken meat every month, prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 Pandemic in early 2020 and its effects on the global supply chain.

However, the global pandemic over the last 2-3 years has thrown the spanner in the works and directly impacted the supply chain, resulting in far-flung island nations like Samoa being hit by the late arrival of container ships.

The Samoa Observer has over the last three days attempted to get a clear picture of the shortage by calling some of the country's main retailer outlets.

A Frankie's Supermarket spokesperson confirmed the shortage of chicken meat and said they are expecting their shipment to get to Samoa from the United States next week.

The retail outlet's spokesperson said they were expecting the container ship to arrive much earlier with their supply. 

Attempts by this newspaper to get a comment from the Farmer Joe Supermarket were unsuccessful with a staff member hanging up. A worker with the Chan Mow Wholesale, when contacted by this newspaper on Tuesday, said their manager was busy and could not comment.

An inspection of the freezer section of selected supermarkets in Apia by this newspaper confirmed the lack of chicken meat. There were unconfirmed reports that one distributor, due to the shortage of chicken meat in Apia, went to Savai'i in order to meet an order for the funeral of a late church leader. 

Residents in the Samoan capital have expressed concern that due to the chicken shortage, the price of other proteins such as pork and beef has increased in recent weeks.

It is not the first time residents in Samoa to been affected by the shortage of basic food supplies, though the pandemic from 2020–2022 exacerbated the problem.