Industry group laments continued drop in chicken farmgate prices

MANILA, Philippines — United Broiler Raisers Association and Philippines Egg Board chairman Gregorio San Diego yesterday lamented the continued drop in the farmgate price of chicken, which is now as low as P90 per kilo despite the retail cost remaining high at P220 per kilo.

San Diego added that from P114 per kilo on Nov. 16, the farmgate price went down to as low as P90 per kilo or a drop of P24 per kilo.

“It is really bad. The selling of chicken is very slow. The farms are full of chickens,” he told The STAR.

San Diego blamed the flooding of imported frozen chicken for the downward trend in the farmgate price.

“The volume of imported frozen chickens is bigger compared to last year,” San Diego said.

According to San Diego, based on data from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), as of Nov. 27 the total dressed chicken in the cold storage facilities already reached 57,450 metric tons compared to 55,713 metric tons in the same period in 2022.

Data from NMIS showed that of the total stocks in the cold storage facilities, 35,751 metric tons were imported frozen products.

San Diego added that because of over importation of frozen chicken, at least 21,699 metric tons of local chicken were stored at the cold storage facilities.

Based on the monitoring of the Department of Agriculture in Metro Manila markets, the retail price of whole chicken ranged between P150 and P220 per kilo.

San Diego said the farmgate price of chicken went up on Nov. 16 after it reached P114 per kilo, but started to go down in the last weeks.

He noted that the average farmgate price on Dec. 1 was already P95 per kilo.

San Diego said local poultry raisers were expecting to recover from their losses this holiday season because of the expected increase in the demand, but continue to suffer because of the arrival of imported chicken in the country.