‘Flood of chicken imports led to local raisers’ losses’

MANILA, Philippines — The United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) yesterday blamed the flooding of imported frozen chicken on the losses suffered by local raisers amid spikes in the farmgate and retail prices of the farm commodity.

In a message to The STAR, UBRA chairman emeritus Gregorio San Diego said that many poultry raisers were forced to limit their operation or decided to stop the production of chicken to prevent further losses.

“Many suffered losses... from October 2023 up to April 2024 because of the flooding of imported chicken,” San Diego said.

“The decision of many broilers to limit their production and the closure of many poultry farms resulted in the decrease in the supply of local chicken,” he added.

Based on monitoring of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Metro Manila markets, the retail price of chicken reached as high as P250 per kilo.

San Diego maintained that the P250 per kilo of whole chicken was too much and not reasonable compared to the farmgate price of the product.

He reported that the farmgate price of chicken in Tarlac, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and Bulacan was only at P140 per kilo.

The DA has warned traders involved in overpricing will be held liable for profiteering under the Price Act as the P250 per kilo price of chicken is “too much.”

The agency maintained that the prevailing price of chicken should range only between P200 and P210 per kilo.