December 29, 2010

Philippine poultry production growth to exceed target

The Philippine government anticipates the value of poultry production to reach or even exceed the official growth target of 2% for 2010, with the first three quarters already recording a 3% increase before the seasonal boost in the last three months of the year.

"Given the growth of local poultry production in the first nine months and a surge in demand for the product in the fourth quarter due to the holiday season, we expect it to register a 2% growth or even exceed it," Bureau of Animal Industry director, Efren C. Nuestro said.

In the nine months to September, poultry production grew 3.01% to PHP36.69 billion (US$835.3 billion) from the same period last year, according to the data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics.

In terms of volume, chicken production, which accounted for 73.34% of poultry output that period, increased 2.82% from 960,350 tonnes in the previous year to 987,390 tonnes.

Chicken egg production, accounting for 22.67%, rose 5.87% to 288,640 tonnes from 272,640 tonnes in the same comparative periods.

"We see poultry to have continuous growth throughout the fourth quarter because demand usually surges during the holiday season, which in turn increases production," Nuestro said.

Value of poultry production grew 1.82% in 2009, according to the data from BAS. In terms of volume, chicken production increased 1.53% and chicken egg output grew 5.04%.

Elias Jose M. Inciong, Executive Vice President of the Union of Broilers and Raisers Association, said, "A 2% or even a 3% growth can be easily achieved. We have a lot of chicken supply at present."

"If the subsector already grew by 3% in the nine months to September, it can easily sustain this until the end of the year."