DA: Expect P5/kilo chicken, pork price hike

Filipino consumers may expect a P5/kilo increase in prices of chicken and pork in the coming days, even as agriculture officials stressed this was not due to a bird flu scare. Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup on Tuesday said the price hike is mainly due to increased demand for the Christmas season. "More of the law of supply and demand, in preparation for the holidays, maraming nagpe-prepare ng hamon, manok ... Hindi ito effect ng bird flu threat. Wala po, gusto ko lang i-correct, wala tayong bird flu sa Pilipinas," Salacup said in an interview on dzBB radio. (This is more due to the law of supply and demand, in preparation for the holidays, as many are preparing hams and chicken-based products. This is definitely not due to the bird flu threat. I want to make clear there is no bird flu case in the Philippines.) Citing reports reaching him, Salacup said chicken prices may go up to P125 per kilo. He said the Department of Agriculture considers this P5/kilo price adjustment to be "within the manageable level," noting that the acceptable price level for chicken is P110 to 125 per kilo. "Alam natin isa sa paboritong hinahain ng ating kababayan ang karneng baboy at pumapangalawa ang karneng manok. Both commodities nagkakaroon ng adjustment pataas (We know Filipinos want pork and chicken during the holidays. Both commodities will have a price adjustment)," he said. On the other hand, he said they expect chicken growers to benefit from this because the farm gate prices will be higher. He said the DA had pegged the suggested reference price to P120 per kilo for chicken to bring the farm gate price up. "It's still a good measure, kumikita ang magmamanok at affordable pa ito on the consumer side (This is a good measure, the chicken growers will earn more while chicken will remain affordable to consumers)," he said. Measures vs bird flu Salacup reassured the public the DA is taking measures against bird flu as far as the importation of chicken is concerned. He said the DA is not giving special importation permits at this time, even as the minimum access volume quota for chicken imports is limited to countries without bird flu cases. "We want to assure the public ang minimum access volume sa chicken doon lang sa bansa na walang avian influenza, sa US, Canada, karamihan doon galing ang inaangkat na chicken parts," he said. (We want to assure the public the minimum access volume for importing chicken will be limited to countries without avian influenza, like the US and Canada where we import most of our chicken parts.) Salacup said the government will not take risks to jeopardize the P150-billion chicken industry. "We want to assure the public di kami pumapayag sa identified na may avian influenza para maproteksyunan natin ang kababayan at chicken industry (We want to assure the public we will not import chicken from countries with avian influenza cases, to protect consumers and the chicken industry)," he said. - KBK, GMANews.TV