Philippines looking to import more chicken
The Philippines agriculture department is likely to approve more chicken imports, due to a shortage of the meat, as well as the projected increase in demand during the Christmas season.
The three million kgs of chicken that importers were proposing to buy would comprise less than 1% of the Philippines’ annual consumption of 450 million head, said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, adding that this would only be temporary.
He also stated that the increase in imports would satisfy the traditional increase in demand in the last quarter. “In the same manner, the shortage is also the reason for the increase in egg prices,” he said.
Yap said the Philippines imported a record 32 million kgs of chicken in the last quarter in 2006, which consequently discouraged poultry raisers from producing more birds in the first quarter this year.
Additionally, the drought experienced in the country has worsened the situation.
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