NPCC urged to impose price cap on chicken

Small and medium-scale broiler producers are urging the inter-agency National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) to impose a price cap on retail prices of chicken which remain high even as farmgate prices are going down.

Gregorio San Diego, president of the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) said that government’s announcement of the importation of 5,000 metric tons (MT) has resulted in the steady drop in farmgate price of chicken.

As of yesterday, broiler growers have been unloading their stocks below their production cost of P60 per kilo as the average farmgate price of chicken was at P55 per kilo, a hefty P5 drop from P61 last Monday, and a whoppping P15 cut in two weeks.

"The announcement of an importation is hurting us. But what is ironic about the whole thing is that while farmgate prices are slipping, retail prices continue to go up," San Diego said.

San Diego said UBRA has asked the NPCC to temporarily implement a price ceiling on both farmgate prices and retail prices until such time that the market situation consolidates or stabilises.

"Broiler producers are willing to comply with a price cap because we want to dispel the mistaken notion that everytime chicken prices at the retail level go up, it is the producers that are jacking up prices. We are just after a reasonable income. When chicken prices go up, the bulk of the income is not with producers, but it goes mostly to the traders or middlemen and retailers that control pricing," stressed San Diego.

San Diego said the government’s importation policy is a knee-jerk reaction that will not result in lower prices of chicken unless drastic measures such as price ceiling is imposed.

San Diego also disputed claims of a tight supply because many of UBRA members, are in fact, complaining that they have difficulty disposing off their inventory because demand has weakened.

"Government has to impose a price ceiling to keep farmgate prices from going down, especially when the imports start to come in," stressed San Diego.

Agriculture officials said, however, that it might be difficult to impose a price cap.

Under Section 7 of the Republic Act , 7581 or the Price Act, only the President, upon the recommendation of the implementing agency, or the Price Coordinating Council, can impose a price ceiling on any basic necessity or prime commodity, but only if the following conditions exist: a national calamity, emergency, the prevalence or widespread acts of illegal price manipulation, existence of any event that causes artificial and unreasonable increase in the price of the basic necessity or prime commodity, and whenever the prevailing price of any basic commodity has risen to unreasonable levels.

Previously, The Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators (PABI) OR THE bigger broiler integrators, also aired their distress over government’s plan to allow the entry of cheap imported chicken.