DA lifts temporary import ban on Belgian poultry products
The Philippines lifted its temporary import ban on Belgian poultry products after the european country regained its bird flu freedom status.
The removal of the trade restriction is expected to ease raw material supply problems of local meat processors, allowing them to temper price increases on processed meat products, an industry group said.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) issued Memorandum Order (MO) 52 that formally lifted the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen from Belgium.
The DA lifted the ban after Belgium submitted its final report to the World Organisation for Animal health (WOAH) that its highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks were already closed and resolved.
Belgium has been banned from exporting poultry products to the Philippines since December last year. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/12/23/da-bans-belgianpoultry-imports/).
“Based on the evaluation of the Department of Agriculture [DA], the risk of contamination from importing poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen is negligible,” MO 52, which was signed by outgoing Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar last June 30, read.
“All import transactions of the above bird species shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the DA,” MO 52 added.
The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) hailed the DA’S decision, explaining that the lifting of the ban would help the industry to cushion the impact of rising costs of raw materials brought about by various global economic challenges such as the ongoing Russiaukraine war.
“This will help ease supply and temper price increases of our vital chicken meat materials and mitigate the impact of the fuel cost increases, global supply chain challenges and other issues brought about by the Russia-ukraine crisis,” PAMPI said in a news statement issued on Friday.
PAMPI expressed optimism that President and Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. would consider “resuming” poultry trade with other “disease-free countries” to open more sources of raw materials.
“We hope that the DA under President Marcos’ leadership will facilitate the resumption of trade with other disease-free countries, as it will help stabilize meat prices and address the country’s food security,” PAMPI added.
Belgium is one of the country’s key sources of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken, which is a vital raw material for the manufacturing of processed meat products like hotdogs and canned meat.
Last year, Belgium was the country’s second top largest supplier of chicken MDM, accounting for more than a fifth of total import volume or about 54,516.709 metric tons (MT).
The local meat processing industry has been scrambling to source chicken MDM after the Philippines imposed temporary import bans on poultry products coming from european countries due to concerns of bird flu.
For instance, the Netherlands, the country’s top supplier of chicken MDM, remains banned from shipping any poultry product to the Philippines until today.