May 24, 2006

Japan lifts ban on Philippine poultry

Japan has lifted an import ban on Philippine poultry products, Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban said Wednesday (May 24).

Panganiban said he was informed of the lifting by the Japanese ambassador to Manila. Negotiations between local suppliers and Japanese buyers should start by Jun 5 and that shipments could resume as early as Jun 7, he said. 

The Philippines voluntarily halted poultry shipments to Japan in June last year, following an outbreak of bird flu at a duck farm in Bulacan province, north of Manila. The outbreak turned out to be that of the low pathogenic H5N3 strain and not the highly virulent H5N1 virus.

In 2004, the country exported around 1.4 million kilogrammes of poultry products to Japan, close to the figure reached during the first 5 months last year, before the ban came into effect.