Poultry raisers push resumption of chicken exports to Japan

Poultry exporters are moving aggressively to recover their $12 million (about P660 million) in losses when they were forced to temporarily stop shipping processed chicken to Japan due to a suspected bird flu occurrence in the country last July.

"This is a temporary setback and the chicken exporters are poised to recover their losses," said Ruben Pascual, spokesperson of the Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators (PABI).

Pascual said integrators are confident Japan will recall its ban on Philippines because its primary supplier, Thailand which has been stricken with bird flu last year, is not yet in a position to totally resume its export activities.

"Japan had been very strict in lifting the ban in the Philippines, possibly because of the recent outbreaks that continue to plague its own chicken industry," said Pascual.

Helping local exporters to lobby before Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry (MAFF) are Japanese importers and distributors.

"We already missed the peak season in Japan. The summer months of July to October is when consumption of chicken, in particular chicken yakitori, is at highest. What we missed is actually three times our regular booking" said Pascual.

He said exporting companies from the Philippines like San Miguel Foods, Tyso Agro-Ventures and Swifts Foods Inc. are exhausting other measures to immediately resume exports, including diplomatic channels.

"We understand Japan’s concerns but we asked them to respect or follow the biosecurity standards of the OIE (Office International des Epizooties). We know that the OIE cannot issue certification, but it has already announced on its website of the Philippines’ invalidation from bird flu," said Pascual.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is seeking reconsideration of a 90-day ban by Japan on chicken imports from the Philippines.

"We appealed to the Japanese agriculture and health authorities to allow chicken exports to resume even before the three-month period ends on Sept. 21 on grounds that the Philippines was not afflicted with bird flu or avian influenza (AI), only, that we were exposed to the virus which is not at all the highly-pathogenic strain," said Davinio Catbagan, officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), which is attached to the DA.

Catbagan said the 90-day imposition by Japan should only apply to countries that have confirmed bird flu cases, specifically the deadly H5N1 strain that ravaged poultry farms across Asia in 2004.

"The incident in the Philippines was one of mere exposure to the virus, there is no incidence of bird flu at all," said Catbagan.