November 29, 2010

 

 

The suspension order is meant to prevent a chicken glut in the local market, Assistant Secretary Davinio Catbagan said.

 

Resolution 301 filed by lawmakers in the House of Representatives directs the department to "immediately stop the importation of choice cut and frozen meat leg quarters," Catbagan said.

 

The resolution also orders the department to consult poultry stakeholders on local production capacity.

 

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala earlier vowed to take a tougher stance on chicken imports, which he said is pulling down prices of locally produced chicken, which has resulted in losses for domestic poultry raisers.

 

Alcala said that government agencies will review import permits, as well as minimum access volume allocations.

 

Any further importations will be done only after consultations with industry stakeholders, he said.

 

He vowed that the Department of Agriculture will slap stiffer penalties on chicken smugglers, whose activities pull down prices when they flood the market with imports.

 

In August, there was a chicken supply glut when too many so-called "grandparent" stocks were imported into the country.

 

In response, the government met with companies importing grandparent stocks and asked them to cap production.

 

Producers did so by culling old stocks and selling breeder eggs as table eggs. However, the controls have now resulted in slightly higher prices for chicken.

 

On Monday (Nov 22), Catbagan said, prices climbed PHP10 (US$0.23) per kilo for live weight chicken. As of Friday (Nov 26), the chicken prices went down by PHP2 (US$0.05), he said.