July 24, 2020

Philippine pork imports fell 41%

 

The Philippines' meat imports in the first half of the year dropped slightly to 403,348.102 tonnes from 406,008.874 tonnes on-year, as pork imports plunged 41%, the latest Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) data showed, BusinessMirror reported.

 

BAI data showed that only buffalo and pork imports posted double-digit contractions, while the volume of other imported meat products grew significantly during the January-to-June period.

 

Pork imports during the six-month period reached 100,745.261 tonnes, which was 71,153.165 tonnes lower than the 171,898.426 tonnes recorded volume in the same period of last year.

 

Industry players have attributed the decline in pork imports to higher global prices due to tightened supply caused by devastation of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China and other pork-producing countries.

 

Buffalo imports declined by 27.16% to 13,444.728 tonnes from 18,459.606 tonnes recorded in the January-to-June period of last year, based on BAI data.

 

BAI data showed that purchases of chicken meat products from abroad rose by 40.64% to 204,290.294 tonnes from last year's 145,251.262 tonnes.

 

The Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) have attributed the increase in chicken meat imports to the so-called spillover effect.

 

MITA explained that shipments intended for arrival in December were delayed due to global shipping problems last year. The shipments entered the Philippines in January and March, he said.

 

The higher imports were also driven by growing demand for chicken cuts and leg quarters from the hospital, restaurant and catering industry (Horeca) since last year.

 

BAI data also showed that beef imports during the reference period grew 18.14% to 82,796.062 tonnes from 70,083.078 tonnes last year.

 

Meat imports, particularly purchase of chicken meat products from abroad, have been a hot issue recently as local broiler raisers have been urging the government to suspend importation amid local supply glut due to confluence of events.

 

Recently, the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) claimed that the local poultry industry has lost about PHP95 billion in revenues due to displacement of local products by imported chicken meat.

 

However, the Department of Agriculture and BAI responded that meat importation also leads to local income and job generation as some of the imported products are used for manufacturing processed meat products that are sold domestically and abroad.