El Niño, smuggling hound poultry subsector's growth

Poultry raisers said over the weekend that the subsector will not achieve a 20-percent increase in broiler production this year, because of the El Niño weather phenomenon and the importation and smuggling of cheaper alternatives to local chicken. The United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) said the industry could only manage to raise broiler supply by 4.4 percent to 549.1 million kilograms this year. "The poultry sector is confronting a number of difficulties this year. For one, the El Niño is causing broilers to become smaller and weigh less. Also, we are losing money because they have to sell below production cost," said Ubra President Gregorio San Diego. In April, poultry raisers spent P68.30 to produce a kilogram of broiler, but farm gate prices averaged P66.13 per kilo that month. In March, poultry raisers suffered bigger losses as farm gate prices averaged P67.76 per kilo with the cost of production pegged at almost P75 per kilo. "Farm gate prices have been fluctuating. One day, the price may be favorable and then the next day, you will lose money," san Diego said. From January to April this year, the group cited that private traders have imported as much as 28.8 million kilos of imported chicken meat, or 123.27 percent more than the volume shipped into the country a year earlier. "We're really concerned about chicken leg quarters from North America. The landed cost of chicken leg quarters are only about P60 per kilogram," said San Diego. Last year, the Philippines imported 67.26 million kilos of chicken meat, or almost 47 percent higher than the volume in 2008. San Diego said local production displaced by the importation last year totaled 59 million broilers. Total sales lost from imported chicken meat, including those of allied industries, amounted to about P8.34 billion. "Smuggling of chicken continues to hurt our industry. There is an existing ban on poultry products from China but you can see Peking duck and century eggs from China being openly sold in the local market," he said. The poultry subsector grossed P144.3 billion at current prices in 2009. Bureau of Agricultural Statistics said this was almost 10 percent higher than the previous year's record. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV