More poultry exports to SoKor eyed

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is looking at exporting more poultry products to South Korea amid the increasing demand from the neighboring Asian country.

Korea is expected to conduct an onsite inspection and accreditation of new poultry manufacturing facilities in the Philippines following the resumption of chicken exports to South Korea.

This developed after the meeting between Agriculture Secretary William Dar and the official delegation from the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

“We are hoping to increase the volume of export of poultry products to South Korea,” Dar said.

“Korea’s chicken imports in 2018 reached 140,000 metric tons. It is projected to increase to 145,000 MT in 2019 due to continuous increase in the demand for processed chicken products and the cheaper price for imports compared to domestic chicken,” he said.

With the assistance from the National Meat Inspection Service and the Bureau of Animal Industry, Korea is set to inspect the facilities in Davao, Batangas, and La Union.

The accreditation will also pave the way for the resumption of the market access of Philippine duck meat and poultry eggs to Korea.

Dar expressed his gratitude to the Korean government for lifting the suspension of Philippine chicken meat and hoped for the earliest dispatch of the on-site inspection team.

To facilitate the exports of Philippine chicken to Korea, the Korean government dispatched its audit team to the Philippines to conduct on-site inspection of three new Philippine poultry manufacturing facilities that confirmed readiness for inspection and interest to apply accreditation for chicken meat exports to Korea this year.