Chicken production problems cause supply shortage in Philippines

 

 

A lower-than-projected chicken production may have caused a supply gap in the Visayas and Mindanao.

 

The shortage was observed by traders and chicken producers, and it will be the first time Luzon, traditionally the largest chicken consumer in the country, will supply the southern regions with the product.

 

Leg quarters were shipped to the Visayas and Mindanao, where there are production problems, said Gregorio San Diego, Jr., chairman of the United Broiler Raisers Association.

 

About 2,000 tonnes of chicken meat that is supposed to go to Manila is now diverted to Visayas and Mindanao, said Davinio Catbagan, director of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

 

The Visayas and Mindanao account for 14.72% and 19.43%, respectively, of the Philippines' total chicken production of 1.281 million tonnes, according to Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) data.

 

The government has allowed traders to import as much as 8,000 tonnes to plug a supply gap in Mega Manila, which was expected as early as in the middle of the year.

 

Under the special importation, the government lifted the special safeguard mechanism, which mandates chicken importers to pay fees for imports coming in at less than PHP94 (US$2)/kg.

 

But San Diego noted that supply might not be short in Mega Manila, only that consumers have less money to buy chicken, so the imported chickens are sent to Visayas and Mindanao.

 

Last year, chicken output in the Visayas and Mindanao rose by 7.6% and 3.5%, respectively, to 188,684 tonnes and 249,043 tonnes, according to BAS data.

 

In January to September, national chicken production increased 3.2% on-year to 898,150 tonnes.