Look for meat export opportunities, Alcala tells agri attachés

MANILA, Philippines - Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has instructed agriculture attaches to scour their host countries for more opportunities in meat exports to maximize the country’s animal-disease-free status. 

Alcala recently ordered agri attaches to observe the consumption patterns of the population of their host countries to determine the appropriate agriculture products for export. He said the Philippines could be particularly competitive in meat export because these industries remain free from bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

“We have asked our agricultural attaches to report on opportunities in their host countries like what was done in South Korea,” he said. “

“We are bird flu and FMD-free but all these achievements would be for naught if we cannot take advantage of the market. Even if we cannot export in large volume for now, we should start now and not wait until 2015 to start.”

The Agriculture department has been grooming several far subsectors for exportation when free trade within Southeast Asian economies is enforced by 2015.

Poultry producer Bountry Fresh, for instance, was recently accredited by the Korean Quarantine Inspection Agency (QIA).

The company’s chicken farm and dressing plant in Pulilan, Bulacan passed the inspection of Korean quarantine representatives.

Considered for exportation this year are value-added products such as choice chicken cuts like wings and breast parts as well as chicken nuggets.

The agriculture trade deficit narrowed 70 percent in the first semester of last year on faster growth in exports and slowdown of imports.

Data released by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) showed that the country’s agricultural trade deficit fell to $424.43 million from 1.43 billion in the same period last year.

Revenues from agricultural exports, which comprised 12.62 percent of the country’s total exports for the period, rose to $3.23 billion, up 30.68 percent from $2.47 billion in the same period last year.

The country’s expenditure for agricultural imports slowed down 6.27 percent to $3.65 billion in the first six months of the year from P3.90 billion in the same period last year.