Broiler raisers decry chicken smuggling

Broilers raisers decried yesterday the reported smuggling of chicken leg quarters from the United States and Canada, which are believed to have found their way into wet markets and supermarkets in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.

The members of the Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators (PABI) have raised concern over the illegal entry of chicken, which did not pass through the usual customs procedures and quarantine inspection.

"The entry of chicken without prior authorization into the local market may endanger consumers’ health," said PABI president Ronald Mascariñas.

A check by the integrators show that there are 15,000 kilos stored in the VIFEl cold storage in Navotas, 100,000 kilos in the Tower cold storage in Navotas, 50,000 kilos at AF Pasig, and an unconfirmed volume at FTI.

The chicken stored here carry different brands from Canada and the US, such as Hallmark, Goldkiss, Seaboard, and Superior and Company Pride.

It is feared that the chicken leg quarters may have been diverted from Indonesia as a result of a ban imposed on imported chicken in this country last month.

Mascariñas said it is possible that the shipments were originally intended for Indonesia and were smuggled through Southern Philippines. These are now being sold at dumped prices just to move the stock, he claims.

Leg quarters are selling at P68-P69 wholesale while retain prices range from P75-P83 in wet markets in Pasig, Kalentong, Cavite and Laguna.

At today’s world market price for leg quarters at $0.925, it is not clear how these leg quarters could sell at P68. At landed cost of P73, wholesale price should not go lower than P80.

"But more than this, what we could not fathom is how these products could reach the wet markets and supermarkets when it has been agreed that importation of these products would be limited for the use of food processors and direct users like fast food chains," the PABI president said.

What is alarming, according to him, is there is no way to tell which is imported or not, posing great health risks.

PABI says that the unabated smuggling of imported chicken will hurt small poultry farmers whose profit margins have been affected by the peso devaluation.

"The bigger issue is the effect of smuggled chicken on the domestic poultry sector due to unfair competition," Mascariñas stressed.