The country's chicken and egg story

Everyday almost, one hears of new prices in the market-meat went up, veggies, chicken, eggs, etc. A housewife who goes to market every week finds that at least one or two items in the market list has gone up again. And the same goes for the supermarket or your friendly neighborhood sari-sari store.

This has led us to check further on the primary food sources. A case in point is the lowly, ordinary chicken egg. In the wet market or the bigger supermarkets, it costs about P4.70, and in smaller retail outlets, it goes up to P5 even. We checked with the UBRA, the association of broiler and egg dealers, and they informed us that the farm gate price of eggs is P3.20 per. That is a spread of at least P1.50 per egg, which is a helluva lot. No wonder our countrymen can hardly afford to buy eggs for breakfast.

The egg farmers are now reeling from the cost of production which has increased so much in recent times. Feeds have become too expensive, and they’re talking here of corn, coco oil, etc. which are all components of the feed. They used to consider wheat flour as corn substitute whenever the price goes down by at least P1 over corn, but lately this is not anymore an option.

The feed component for every egg which sells for P3.45 (at farm gate) is P2.55, so that leaves a very small spread for the egg farmers, much smaller than what the traders or middlemen get. And yet, the egg farmer has no recourse-if he ups his prices, he risks lower sales, and he can’t stock these eggs for long.

The only recourse they are considering now is to slow down production, hoping that this would somehow drive the prices upward. Of course, you can guess that the traders and middlemen will never absorb the difference-that is for us consumers to tackle.

Sometime back, the poultry business in the Visayas and Mindanao areas were badly affected by the typhoons that hit the area. If the egg basket of Luzon is in San Jose, Batangas, the equivalent in the area is Bantayan Island in Cebu where they have about 1.5 million layers. With those typhoons, supply was affected by about 50 percent. That was reason enough to raise the prices, but in Luzon, this is not so. So how come these traders keep upping the cost of eggs?

The same is true for chickens as well. Farm gate price of chicken is P68/kilo, but in wet markets, this goes up to P120/kilo. Almost double? Supermarkets have them slightly lower because frozen chicken is slightly cheaper. It even went up by about P10/kilo to P130 in the wet markets, but the growers themselves are puzzled because they haven’t changed their prices. Incidentally, it is also in San Jose, Batangas where you can see the highest concentration of layer farms. For broiler farms, it is in Bulacan and Pampanga.

In January of this year, when farm gate prizes of chicken was lowest, the farmers were selling their culls (chickens past their laying stage) at P28/head. Did we ever hear of this from the markets and retail stores? Now, they’re back to P78 to 80 per head, and we never noticed the difference.

Speaking of chickens, the growers are still puzzled by the fact that one can still readily see Peking Ducks, Century Eggs, etc from China in the supermarkets or order them freely in restaurants. If these came from countries that have not been certified as bird-flu free, they run the risk of being contaminated. To be sure, these are not tested for contamination when they enter the country, so how come they are allowed into our shores? The Philippines is one of the few places in the region certified bird-flu, and we take pride in that, as evidenced by the large posters in the arrival area in the international airports in the country. So, why the proliferation? The farmers are worried because, if the bird flu hits us, a whole industry is destroyed, and with it, the livelihood and employment of so many families that have been steeped in the business through several generations.

As for the eggs-these may be dirt-cheap, but the egg farmers take pride in the fact that they are the cheapest source of protein. They lament the fact that Filipinos may still be victims of disinformation about the health benefits of eggs as far as cholesterol content is concerned. In Japan, they say, where people are more health-conscious than other nations, the per capita consumption of eggs is 280. Compare that with the Pinoy per capita of 84, and to think that eggs are widely affordable for Pinoys.

Perhaps to drive home a point, the farmers are seeking to sell eggs on a per kilo basis rather than by the dozen, or by the piece. One reason is the unscrupulous claims of some retailers who pass off their small or medium-sized eggs for large in order to sell at a premium. Selling them by weight corrects this, and provides the people with a cheap source of protein.

Hopefully, this Christmas season, when the buying habits of consumers normally escalate, the egg growers will be able to recoup their losses. It’s traditionally the season when importations triple, so let’s hope too that we will not be seeing containers of imported chicken or chicken parts come December. Let’s support this home-grown traditional industry.

A very welcome prospect

Last week, I was in Singapore when this column (Philippines-a Retirement Haven) came out last Saturday. I was there to watch first hand the Formula 1 races, the first ever night-time races and the first one in that “fine” city (I learned during the trip that’s how many of the locals refer to their country due to “fines for this and fines for that violation”), through the invitation of Toyota Motor Philippines, but that is another story altogether which I shall write about in the Star’s Motoring Today column next week.

Anyway, while in Singapore, I was pleasantly surprised to receive quite a few e-mails from our readers excited about the prospects we wrote about. Most were from large property owners or developers in the areas pinpointed as serious contenders for potential retirement villages. I am still in the process of answering these e-mails.

Memories.... and more

This one’s again from Terra Daffon; “... we would eat either at Ambos Mundos or Panciteria Moderna at Plaza St. Cruz near Escolta. Ambos Mundo’s sinigang na hipon paired with chicken and pork adobo was to die for. At Panceteria Moderna, we invariably ordered lumpiang shanghai fried crisp and golden brown, dipped in red sweet and sour sauce, pancit canton special, fried rice, pork asado with inch-wide strips of pickled papaya, Chinese fried chicken and just for my father because all of us kids would have none of it -hototay soup! While waiting for our order, we would indulge in the very Filipino habit of preparing the soy sauce and calamansi mixture in little dip saucers.”

Cheers! And thanks again. Keep them coming. Just write those memories in.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be Filipino.

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