October 1, 2013

In January-June of this year, the Philippines' import of chicken meat declined by 6.52% to 48.32 million kilogrammes, according to a report released by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).

In its "Industry Performance Report" series, the BAS said chicken-meat imports in the first half of the year were valued at US$38.58 million. This figure is lower by 13.83% compared to the US$44.77 million registered in the same period last year.

The report said that the volume of meat imports during the first quarter was 19.64% higher, but dropped by 27.48% on the second quarter compared with the 2012 levels.

Agriculture Undersecretary Dante Delima said the decline in imports reflects the increasing availability of poultry in the local market.

Based on BAS figures, chicken production was up by 5.05% to 758,680 tonnes in January to June this year and as of July 1, the country's total chicken population was 176.85 million birds. This is 4.05% higher than the 169.97 million birds recorded in January to June 2012.

The BAS said chicken egg production also went up by 2.55% from the same period last year. Meanwhile, the bureau's records show that total imports of day-old chick breeder imports in the first half of the year was 76.15% lower than last year's imports.

"Also, the volume of imports for grandparent stock was 100,430 day-old chicks. It decreased by 51.52% from the 2012 level," the BAS report read.

The agency said the monthly average farm-gate price of broilers from January to June was PHP77.84 (US$1.80) per kilogramme. This was 4.01% higher than last year's average price of PHP74.84 (US$1.72) per kilogramme.

The BAS said the lowest farm-gate price was reported during the month of March at PHP74.91 (US$1.72) per kilogramme, while the highest price was registered in January at PHP81.22 (US$1.87) per kilogramme.