Poultry stakeholders agree on prices of dressed chicken

The Agriculture Department, poultry raisers, and market vendors have agreed on a standard reference price of P100 per kilogram for “unbranded" dressed chicken and P110 for “branded" chicken. This was the agreement reached by industry stakeholders in meetings last week, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said over the weekend. “We have decided to amend the reference price for dressed chicken. Dressed chicken sold under certain labels such as Magnolia and Bounty Fresh will carry a higher price tag," Alcala said. Dressed chicken now sells at P120 per kilogram, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Poultry raisers, particularly members of the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA), have complained that P120 is too much as the price of live poultry is P48 per kilo. They also complained that that their production cost is P60 per kilo. Alcala said the government cannot just immediately stop the importation of chicken under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme since it is a commitment the Philippines made to the World Trade Organization (WTO). “We are studying all options and reviewing our policies but MAV is an international commitment so we cannot just suspend it," he said. Republic Act 8178 or the Agricultural Tarrification Act refers to MAV as the volume of a specific agricultural product that is imported with a lower tariff as committed by the Philippines to the WTO under the Urugay Round Final Act. The duty on imported chicken under MAV is at a uniform rate of 40 percent for both volumes within and outside MAV. UBRA president Gregorio F. San Diego urged the government to stop issuing import permits under MAV for the rest of 2010. The use of MAV is now 90 percent or 21 million kilos out of 23.5 million kilos committed by the Philippines under the MAV scheme, said San Diego. UBRA noted that from January to August, chicken imports within and outside MAV have already reached 64 million kilograms. Imported chicken totaled 67 million in 2009. Aside from the standard reference price, Alcala said he got a commitment from breeders to “police their own ranks" to avoid a glut of day old chicks. Poultry raisers lamented that the low live weight price of chicken is caused by an “oversupply." Year to date inventory of frozen chicken in cold storages is pegged at 6.5 million kilograms versus 3.5 million kilograms in the same period last year. Also, Ubra urged the Aquino administration to help in a survey that will determine the actual demand for poultry in the Philippines. San Diego said accurate numbers on domestic demand are necessary for the industry to better forecast production schedules. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV