Brunei, Japan, Vietnam eyeing chicken from RP

Three Asian countries have expressed interest in importing chicken from the Philippines, which was declared as bird flu-free by the World Health Organization (WHO), officials said yesterday.

Local poultry farmers are seeking to profit from this opportunity as they said domestic demand for poultry was down by as much as 30 percent since the bird flu scare started late last year, although they were unsure if the flu scare alone accounted for the drop.

"Japan, Brunei and Vietnam are now looking at the possibility of sourcing some of their chicken requirements from us," Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said at a joint news conference with major poultry farmers and Jollibee Foods Corp., the restaurant chain that is the country’s top chicken consumer.

The P96-billion Philippine poultry industry has so far remained free of the bird flu virus that has devastated 10 Asian nations and claimed 12 human lives so far.

Japan and Vietnam are two of the 10 countries whose poultry farms culled millions of chickens in an effort to stop the spread of bird flu. The eight other countries are Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, China and Pakistan.

"I am confident that we will be able to keep our country free from the avian flu," Lorenzo said.

He also clarified reports that he is discouraging local poultry producers from going into exports.

"If the local broiler (producers) want to export, they can do so. I cannot stop them," Lorenzo said.

The Philippines consumed 1.188 billion kilograms (2.6 billion pounds) of chicken meat last year, with imports from the United States, Canada, Brazil and Europe accounting for just 1.16 percent of domestic consumption, agriculture department figures show.

Despite assurances by agriculture and health officials, consumers have not been buying chicken and farm-gate prices have continued to slide. The sale of chicken in supermarkets, wet markets and restaurants has also been falling.

In supermarkets and groceries, dressed chicken now sells from P95 to P105 per kilo, a significant reduction from last month’s average of P130 to P145 per kilo. Broiler growers are complaining that they are now selling at a loss. The average farm-gate price of live chicken has gone down by 51 percent to P45 per kilo from P68 per kilo in December. It costs P60 to produce one kilo of chicken.

Gregorio San Diego, president of the United Broiler Raisers Association, said the farm-gate price of chicken has been falling by an average of P1 per kilo per day in the last two weeks.

"We expect the slide in prices to continue for as long as consumers refuse to buy chicken," he said.

Major players in the industry are already initiating talks for the export of chicken to Japan, Brunei and Vietnam.

"We would like to export," said Antonio Sandejas, senior assistant vice-president for San Miguel Foods Inc., which has a 35 percent domestic market share.

"We have the capability to expand, but not immediately," Sandejas said.

"This is an opportunity, but even without the bird flu, we were already looking at it."

"We have had some contacts" from Japan, which has suspended poultry imports from Asian countries hit by the flu, Sandejas said. He said San Miguel was also looking to export to the Middle East.

The acting San Miguel Foods president, Francisco Alejo, told reporters that January sales were about 12 percent down from December levels, although he stressed there was no conclusive proof that bird flu fear was the sole reason for the decline in demand.

He said demand traditionally falls off in January after the holidays.

Swift Foods Inc. chairman Jose Concepcion said his company’s modern dressing plant in Misamis Oriental is capable of processing 100,000 chickens daily.

He said the Philippines can supply part of Thailand’s chicken exports to Japan, which absorbs half of the $700 million annual exports to Thailand.

Japan has already banned the importation of chicken and other poultry products from China and Thailand to prevent the further spread of bird flu there.

Lorenzo assured the public that the chicken served in major fast food outlets, "particularly Jollibee, are safe" because they get their supply from local producers.

The Jollibee chain insists that consumption of their flagship fried chicken product had held firm, but "many of our customers are inquiring about the bird flu," its vice-president for marketing, Inez Reyes, said.

She said the restaurant chain, a top 100 company in the Philippines, is assuring customers that the fowl it serves are free from flu.

Poultry output last year accounted for 14.43 percent of agricultural production. Agriculture in turn accounts for about a fifth of the gross domestic product.

Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar Purisima warned that if the lowered demand for chicken continues, the prices of other food products will increase.

"Substitution of demand from one commodity to another won’t be good for the industry. It will affect the prices of commodities in general. We must (make sure) that the consumption pattern is stable," he said.

Lorenzo also said the government is considering a ban on the importation of chicken from Laos, Pakistan and Cambodia to keep the country safe from bird flu. The ban on the importation of live chicken and poultry products currently covers Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.

"In the long run, it is to the interest of our consumers that we protect the long-term viability and sustainability of our poultry and livestock sector … We only have to be vigilant and we need the cooperation of everybody — from our port and customs authorities, our importers, our local growers, all the way to our consumers," he said. — with AFP