Consumers shifted to chicken in mid-Sept. amid ASF outbreak, growers say

CHICKEN PRICES are rising at the farmgate level as consumers seek alternatives to pork following the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the domestic pig herd, chicken growers said.

United Broilers and Raisers Association (UBRA) President Elias Jose M. Inciong said demand began to rise in mid-September, which he attributed to a shift in consumer preference away from pork.

“The week of Sept. 15 to 20, doon nag-umpisa

yan (that is when it started)…. there is pressure from the demand side (because) there was a definite shift,” he told BusinessWorld by phone.

He said September prices are usually soft “dahil

madaling mag-alaga (it is easy to raise chicken at this time of year) and at the same time import volumes are high,” he said.

Price monitoring by UBRA indicates that on Sept. 27, the average price of regular-sized chicken was P97.33 per kilo, up from P96 a week earlier. The price of prime-sized chicken rose to P104.21 from P93.69 previously.

Mr. Inciong said chicken supply is adequate despite strong demand.

“Kinakaya pa ng industry (the industry can still handle it)…. but we will see. Apparently, the ASF scare is dying down. Baka naman mag-normalize na ang situation (The situation could normalize),” he said. Asked when he expects the situation to normalize, Mr. Inciong said, ”We really don’t know. It depends on the consumers if they calm down and start consuming pork again, (chicken) prices should normalize.” —