Broiler raisers hit influx of imported frozen chicken

MANILA, Philippines — The United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) bewailed the flood of imported frozen chicken in the country, saying at least 142.5 million kilos arrived in the first three months of 2023.

In an interview with The STAR yesterday, UBRA chairman Gregorio San Diego noted that in January 2023, the total volume of imported chicken was even bigger than pork imports.

Based on data provided by San Diego, there were at least 54,642 metric tons (MT) of imported chicken in various cold storages in the country as of April 27.

“The arrival of imported chickens continues compared to pork,” San Diego said, adding that the price of imported chicken is cheaper compared to pork amid the impact of the African swine fever in many countries.

“This is the reason why the retail price of pork is high compared to chicken. We’ve been saying that the broiler industry is not thriving. In fact, many poultry raisers decided to stop their production because of the flooding of imported chickens,” he added.

At least 38.33 million kilos of frozen chickens arrived in January 2023; 54.4 million kilos in February, 49.8 million kilos in March 2023.

“The government keeps on saying that the importation is being conducted to augment the supply but what is happening is not augmentation. You are replacing the local production with imported chickens,” San Diego said.

He maintained that local poultry production can supply the country’s yearly requirement, as total local poultry production is pegged at 2.08 million kilos compared to the total demand of 1.6 million kilos.

At the same time, San Diego said the Department of Agriculture (DA) has no actual data on the total number of chickens culled because of bird flu.

“The DA has no official data. In fact, it only recorded at least two million chickens culled because of bird flu compared to the industry data of at least 10 million culled as in one farm alone, at least one million chickens were culled during the height of avian flu in Central Luzon,” he said.

San Diego added that livestock raisers are not earning as the farmgate price of chicken is only pegged at P90 per kilo compared to the cost of production of P100 to P110 per kilo.

“The sad reality is the retail price of chicken is at P180 when the farmgate price is only P90 per kilo,” he noted, adding that the ideal price of chicken should only range between P150 and P160 per kilo.

He said the DA failed to provide assistance to the livestock industry.

Based on monitoring of the DA yesterday, the retail price of whole chicken ranged between P160 and P200 per kilo.

“The demand is low as Filipinos decided to cut their food cost amid the rising prices of electricity, water and transportation,” he said.