THE farmgate price of chicken is declining, offsetting any potential upward pressure resulting from a temporary ban on poultry imports from several US states, industry groups said.
The United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) told BusinessWorld that the current farmgate prices of live weight regular sized chicken was P126-P129 per kilo, from P135 a week earlier.
The farmgate prices for day-old chickens, meanwhile, was between P52 and P54.
“It does not follow when there is such a ban that there will be price increases,” UBRA President Elias Jose M. Inciong said via Viber.
Citing bird flu outbreaks, the Department of Agriculture (DA) temporarily banned imports of poultry products such as poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen from Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Maryland, and Missouri.
The US accounts for 33% or 158,159 metric tons (MT) of the Philippines’ 472,211 MT chicken imports in 2024, making it the Philippines’ second-largest chicken supplier.
Meat Importers and Traders Association President Jesus C. Cham told BusinessWorld that chicken prices in the Philippines may still rise due to the temporary import ban.
Philippine importers are still grappling with the delay in the allocation of the minimum access volume (MAV) quota on poultry imports, he said via Viber.
He described the current poultry supply situation as “tight.”
Meat traders have been calling on the DA to issue the MAV allocation for 2025 as soon as possible to avoid supply disruptions. MAV quotas should have been released in the first week of January, they said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza