April 17, 2012

South Korea approves Philippine chicken exports

After an inspection team certified Manila's compliance with international quarantine standards, South Korea has opened its market for frozen chicken parts from the Philippines.

"Chicken from triple-A slaughterhouses will be allowed access. [Seoul's] decision to start accepting our chicken products means that we have complied with their requirements. Local producers may start exporting their products anytime," Bureau of Animal Industry director Efren Nuestro said in an interview over the weekend.

South Korea is considered as large as the Japanese market, which already relies on the Philippines for poultry products, following the onslaught of the Asian influenza virus in former top exporter Thailand. Japan is now the top importer of Yakitori chicken from the Philippines.

Nuestro said the Philippine agricultural attaché in Seoul informed the agency about South Korea's decision to give Filipino chicken exporters access to its frozen meat market.

He said the Philippines was taking advantage of its avian influenza-free status to seek out new markets. The Philippines is one among the few countries in Asia with no reported incidents of the dreaded avian influenza that crippled poultry industries across the region this year.

Agriculture officials said the opening of South Korean market for local chicken products is one of the agenda discussed in the Philippine-South Korea bilateral meeting on agriculture held in Manila in November last year.