DA urged to limit chicken imports

Local broiler producers are asking the Department of Agriculture (DA) to limit chicken imports this year to save the industry from imminent collapse.

"Producers are hoping that this year, government will be a bit more cautious in making announcements of chicken importations to avoid what happened in previous years when such activity led to the considerable decline in farmgate prices of chicken" said Gregorio San Diego, president of the United Broilers Raisers Association (UBRA).

San Diego said in an earlier interview that poultry producers are bearish about the sector’s prospects this year because of weak consumption brought about by declining purchasing power of consumers.

"A lot of producers have already reduced production on top of their culling done after the Christmas holidays because there was simply no demand. We expected the supply to be tight after that and improve farmgate prices, but because consumers are not buying the way they used to, there is still a huge inventory," said San Diego.

San Diego said earlier that consumers are scrimping on their food budget because wage workers are feeling the pinch of expanded value added tax. – Rocel Felix