‘Enough chicken this Christmas’

Big and medium-size poultry growers assured the public and the Department of Agriculture (DA) yesterday that there will be an adequate supply of chicken this Christmas season.

The group is actually projecting an oversupply by next year even as local growers prepare to export Avian flu-free chicken to such countries as Japan, Hong Kong, the Middle East and even the United Kingdom.

In a press conference, the Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators (PABI) and the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) allayed fears of a rise in chicken prices and supply shortage this Christmas.

Aside from local production, PABI and UBRA member-growers are also bringing in three million kilos of imported chicken before Christmas, while some traders are also importing another two million kilos under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) import quota.

PABI is composed of big farm integrators, while UBRA is made up of medium-sized commercial growers. PABI and UBRA officials met yesterday with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to give their assurance and projection for next year.

The PABI officials who met with Yap were president Rita Imelda Palabyab of San Miguel, Susan Calalo of RFM Swift, William Lim of Universal Robina Corp., and Edwin Chen of Tyson Bounty, and UBRA president Gregorio San Diego.

Following the assurance of the PABI and UBRA officials, Yap stressed that "there is really no reason for any undue spiral in the retail cost of chicken products between now and Christmas."

An indication of the adequate supply of chicken was the revelation by San Diego that the farm gate price for live chicken has fallen 10 percent over the past two weeks to P64 to P66 a kilo.

Yap said the DA would coordinate with the Department of Trade and Industry and local government units in monitoring price movements in the markets in the weeks leading to Christmas to make sure certain sectors do not unduly jack up prices.

Typhoon Milenyo had adversely affected local stocks. PABI lost two million kilos worth of bird capacity, while UBRA lost one million kilos, according to the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

However, PABI president Palabyab was optimistic that by next year, the situation would have reversed and an oversupply situation would prevail as most local chicken growers are set to increase their production by 15 percent to 20 percent to meet increasing demand for Avian flu-free chicken from the Philippines.

Because Philippine chicken stocks remain Avian flu-free, a lot of countries such as Japan, HK, the Middle East and even the UK are now interested in importing chicken from the Philippines.

However, the PABI and UBRA officials could not give a projection on chicken prices as they are still not sure of domestic demand. Last year, the poultry industry supplied consumers with 610,096 MT of broiler meat.

This year’s projected supply was only pegged at 605,385 MT, but the damage wrought by Milenyo further pulled down the industry’s capacity to supply consumers with only 600,457 MT.