Chicken prices stabilize as growers hike output

Chicken prices are starting to stabilize as the local poultry industry hiked its production to at least 2.3 million birds.

The Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators (PABI) which include San Miguel Foods Inc., Swift Foods, Tyson Agro-Ventures, Universal Robina and Vitarich, and the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) said they have advanced the harvest of up to two million birds last December to meet the high demand for chicken during the holidays.

PABI president Imelda Rita Palabyab said this volume was earlier allocated for January. It will take a few more weeks to replenish these stocks in retail shelves, Palabyab added.

"The normalization of supply in the next few weeks should be able to influence the lowering of chicken prices in retail outlets," PABI said, adding that their members vowed to keep farmgate and wholesale prices at reasonable levels.

PABI’s members have been selling live chicken to traders and dealers at P63 to P67 per kilo. At these prices, the retail price of chicken should still be below P100 per kilo considering dressing or conversion costs and a normal retail mark-up.

However, consumers complained that retailers, particullarly at public markets, were selling way above P100 while most supermarkets maintained prices at P95 to P100.

To further stabilize prices, PABI said its members will be fielding 16 rolling stores in strategic areas in Metro Manila this month.

As this developed, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. parried criticisms blaming the DA for the chiken shortage that irked consumers during the Christmas holidays.

The DA reportedly rejected the proposal of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to allow the importation of chicken prior to the holidays, insisting that local production is adequate.

Lorenzo added that the price increases and supply shortages which peaked last December could not have been solved by allowing more chicken imports.

He said local production remains adequate which explains why the supply of chicken in the wet markets remained stable even during the holiday season.

Shortly before the holiday season, local production of chicken showed a 3.6 percent increase over the previous year, he cited.

"We have not curtailed chicken importation as the minimum access volume (MAV) allocation has been kept at 1.83 million kilos a month for the whole year," Lorenzo stressed.