November 28, 2006 

Possible chicken oversupply in Philippines next year

US poultry raisers are expressing concerns over a possible oversupply of chicken next year as forecast of a 15 percent to 20 percent production growth is released. 

Some companies have been unnerved by the announcement as they have already ordered the grandparent stocks, Rita Imelda Palabyab, president of Philippine Association of Broilers, Inc said.

Edward Chen, director of Tyson Agroventures, a chicken exporter, said unless the grandparent stock were culled early, there could be a significant increase in chicken production.

However, he dispelled any fears of huge surpluses causing price falls. Any surplus next year would be able to be exported abroad, he said.

At present, the company decided to focus on the local market as there is a huge demand for chicken at home, especially this holiday season. The company is likely to resume its export operations to Japan next year.

Poultry raisers projected chicken production to reach as much as 456.85 million kilos this year, slightly lower than last year.

Other companies that halted operations and planned to resume next year are Universal Robina Corp. and RFM Corp.

So far this year, chicken export has reached slightly more than one million kilogrammes. Even so, industry a five to six-fold increase is expected as the Japanese market opens next year.

Meanwhile, poultry growers assured consumers there would be enough poultry for the coming Christmas season and do not foresee any price increases for the period.