February 21, 2023

 

Philippines imports less pork and beef, more chicken

 

Data from the Philippines' Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed the country imported more chicken over pork and beef in January this year, The Star reported.

 

The Philippines imported 76.52 million kg of meat last month, 10.83% lower compared to the 85.81 million kg imported in January 2022. This also marked a drop of 26.55% from the 104.19 million kg of imported meat that arrived in December 2022.

 

Chicken imports surpassed pork with a volume of 30.33 million kg, accounting for 39.64% of all meat imports into the Philippines. The majority of these were chicken leg quarters, then chicken that had been mechanically separated and deboned. This was 22.27% lower than the 39.02 million kg sourced in the previous month.

 

Pork imports came in second place at 30.27 million kg, down from 46.2 million kg the year before by 34.47%. More than a third of imported pork was made up of offals and pork cuts.

 

The Philippines imported 12.51 million kg of beef, mostly beef cuts. 3.33 million kg of buffalo meat were also imported.

 

Small quantities of imported duck, lamb, and turkey purchased during the reference period were noted in the BAI data.

 

Brazil continued to be the main source of the nation's meat imports, contributing 24.65 million kg, mostly of chicken.

 

Spain came in second with 8.85 million, mostly pork, and the US in third with 13.79 million kg, mostly chicken.

 

The Marcos administration extended the validity of lower import tariffs until the end of 2023, and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) previously stated that it expected the Philippines to continue sourcing more pork.

 

-      The Star