February 17, 2004

 

 

Philippines Ready For Poultry Shipment To Japan

 

Philippines will be exporting poultry to Japan in a few weeks time, a senior Philippine trade official said on Tuesday. More shipments is expected to take place soon.

 

"Japan has agreed to buy our poultry. We have confirmed the sale of some poultry. The balance amount is yet to be finalised," Rita Imelda Palabyab, president of the Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators, said.

 

She declined to give details of the volumes being negotiated.

 

"The shipment should be leaving in a couple of weeks," she added.

 

Japan has been scrambling for cargoes after bird flu outbreaks in Thailand, China and the United States forced it to ban shipments from those nations and look for shipments from countries free of the virus.

 

Japanese Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei said on Sunday that the country might resume imports of heat-treated processed poultry from China and Thailand if experts confirmed the bird-flu affected countries met Japanese sanitary standards.

 

The Philippines and Malaysia have remained free from the bird flu that has spread across Asia, killing at least 20 people and leading to the culling of millions of chickens.

 

Malaysian industry sources said last week that a maiden cargo of 10 to 12 containers of boneless chicken, totalling about 200 to 240 tonnes, was due for Japan between end-March and early-April.

 

Japan has itself reported an outbreak of bird flu, leading to the slaughter of about 35,000 chickens.

 

The Philippines produces about 500 million kg (1.1 billion lb) of poultry meat a year, most of it to meet domestic demand.