February 15, 2010

San Miguel Foods sees 20% increase in chicken exports

Philippine food giant San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) is expecting a healthy 20% growth in its chicken exports this year, with Japan continuing to be the leading export destination.

SMFI president Rita Imelda B. Palabyab said the Philippines is only ranked third in terms of raw chicken exports to Japan after Brazil and the United States. But she pointed out that SMFI has been able to develop a niche market in Japan as "Philippine chicken has a reputation of being more tasty, more tender, because we use a smaller bird than Brazil or the US."

As such, Palabyab said, SMFI's chicken exports to Japan is mostly processed "yakitori" chicken especially since no other company exports "yakitori" chicken to Japan.

SMFI exported about six million kilos of yakitori chicken to Japan last year.

Palabyab revealed the Japanese market favours more of the brown meat rather than the white chicken meat.

She said that the company is supplying chicken fingers as Japanese deemed white meat is the healthier meat. The SMFI chief added that Japan is a high value market and products are quite complicated, but the country is willing to pay the right price for it.

On the other hand, Palabyab admitted that SMFI is not as competitive in the ASEAN (Assocation of South East Asian Nations) market, hence, mentioning the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) poses a possible threat.

However, Palabyab is not unduly worried that imported chicken would destroy the local poultry sector.

According to Palabyab, "Filipinos will always prefer… I mean anyone not just Filipinos, anyone in any country will always prefer fresh chicken than frozen chicken. All imports have to be frozen so we have to capitalize on that market."