November 29, 2011

Philippines' chicken, pork imports surge ahead of holiday season

Imported chicken and pork cutlets have already swelled since September - ahead of an expected jump in demand for the holidays next month, the Department of Agriculture said Tuesday (November 29).
 

According to the Bureau of Animal Industry, up to 143,400 tonnes of pork and chicken entered the local market since September 2011.

This November alone, BAI data showed imported chicken totalled 115,000 tonnes of various parts that include fats, skin, deboned meat, and leg quarters that brought the year-to-date volume to 115,075 tonnes.
 

From September to October, imported pork belly, deboned meat, fat, offal, rind and skin.
 

Pork importation, on the other hand, reached 28,326 tonnes from September to October. The Philippines import pork cuts like bellies, deboned pork, fats, offal's, rind and skin.
 

Veterinary quarantine certificates issued in January to September covered 323,484 tonnes of imported pork and chicken, according to the bureau.
 

All meat importations were either within the minimum access volume or outside the quota, said Agriculture Secretary Proseso Alcala, referring to the allowable volume on agriculture products that members of the World Trade Organization can buy or sell at reduced tariff rates.
 

The 2011 minimum access volume for chicken is 23,490 tonnes.