Poultry sector close to full recovery from bird flu

MANILA, Philippines — Two months after the outbreak of the first case of bird flu in the country, the local poultry sector is close to full recovery as farm gate prices have returned to stable levels.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) said over the weekend that farm gate prices have significantly improved since August, when prices slumped to a low of P10 to P15 per kilogram, way below the cost of production.

“We saw good farm gate prices for the last two weeks ranging from P70 to P90 per kilogram. It has been positive since there (have) been no imports,” Sinag said.

“Even if there are still stocks in cold storages, they don’t directly compete since fresh chickens are the ones in the wet markets,” the group added.

While businesses have resumed in other areas in the country after the lifting of the export ban, the affected towns – San Luis in Pampanga and Jaen and San Isidro in Nueva Ecija – have yet to recover.

“After 90 days from the announcement of the bird flu, that’s the only time that they can start growing again. We really need to help the backyard raisers since they are the ones directly affected. The bigger farms can just easily recover,” Sinag said.

The organization also maintained that there is enough supply of chicken and chicken products for the coming holiday season despite the incidence of bird flu.

Latest data showed the volume of chicken production stood at 862,000 metric tons (MT), which was up five percent, during the first half of the year.

The inventory of layer and native chickens also increased by 10 percent and five percent, respectively. Broiler chicken, however, went down by 1.2 percent.

Chicken egg production was estimated at 243,000 MT, an improvement of four percent.

Meanwhile, the average farm gate price of broiler chicken during the period was P84.60 per kilogram, down two percent from the P86.32 per kilogram level last year.

The monthly prices of dressed broiler chicken in Metro Manila were 3.47 percent higher than the previous year’s record.

A better price was noted in April at P146.40 per kilogram, while the lowest was quoted at P136.40 per kilogram in January.