April 17, 2008

Corn price peaks affect Mindanao halal industry

High prices of corn has adversely affected the growth of halal meat sector in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the whole of Mindanao, reveals a business group in the region.

Vicente Lao, chairman of the Mindanao Business Council (MinBC) said the price of local corn is currently pegged at P10 to P11, double the price of corn from Indonesia or from the United States.

Lao, who is also Regional Development Council (RDC) chair, said the government should further import corn to attract investors in the country's halal industry.

This would also force local farmers to lower the price of their corn, he said.

Lao said halal chicken is more attractive to buyers if the input price is lowered.

He said Arab investors are willing to bring their certification procedure in the country to make the chicken products acceptable to the Middle East market.

Last year, the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Business Council then headed by Lao put efforts together to export halal chicken.

They planned to export 1.3 million halal dressed chickens to the Middle East every month.