After pork, chicken prices up

MANILA, Philippines — After a spike in pork prices, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) confirmed yesterday that retail prices of chicken would also increase.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary and deputy spokesman Rex Estoperez said United Broiler Raisers Association president Bong Inciong and UBRA chairman Gregorio San Diego disclosed that the farmgate price of chicken went up to P120 per kilo, causing a movement in retail prices.

“It is unusual as industry players said chicken prices usually go down after the holiday season,” Estoperez said.

Based on DA monitoring, the retail price of whole chicken ranged between P150 and P200 per kilo.

“Many of our poultry raisers decided to stop their operation so it’s an issue of supply and demand,” Estoperez said.

Last week, the price of pork went up to as high as P420 per kilo in Metro Manila markets amid the looming shortage caused by the African swine fever.

Estoperez said livestock producers are welcome to sell fresh chicken at Kadiwa stores to give consumers access to lower prices.

“We don’t have facilities for fresh commodities at the Kadiwa centers, but we welcome suppliers to supply fresh meat where they can sell their chickens at lower prices,” he said.

Inciong said the production of chicken would be affected by humidity during the dry season.

“Our industry knows how to take care of their facilities to minimize the impact of the summer season on the livestock,” Estoperez said.

He said the shift on consumption preference also contributes to the movement in the prices of chicken.

Estoperez said the DA is eyeing the importation of frozen chicken to help bring down prices.

“We sustain the chicken imports but these are regulated. Prices should be fair to consumers but it is still consumer preference,” he said.

Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura president Rosendo So said the farmgate price of chicken increased to P120 per kilo from P110 on March 25.

So said the retail price of chicken should only be P190 per kilo.

“The prices really depend on the supply and demand. If the farmgate price is P110 per kilo, at least P80 per kilo should be added so it should be P190. If it’s P220, it’s high,” he said.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban lifted the ban on the importation of live cattle from the Netherlands, Brazil and Spain.

Panganiban said aside from live cattle, covered by the lifting of the ban are meat and meat products, bovine processed animal proteins and semen derived from cattle.

The DA had suspended the importation of cattle from the three countries amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow in these countries.