Higher output, imports trim farm-gate price of chicken

THE farm-gate price of chicken meat has started to decline by as much as P3 per kilogram as local supply, driven by higher output and imports, starts to outpace market demand, the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) said.

Ubra President Elias Jose Inciong said there has been increased output driven by anticipated higher demand for Christmas and the

shift to chicken meat by Filipino consumers as they stay away from pork due to the African swine fever (ASF) scare.

This, Inciong pointed out, was coupled with higher chicken meat imports. These rose 14 percent year-on-year during the Januaryto-September period.

However, Inciong said it is quite hard to estimate if the price trend would continue downward due to the so-called ASF factor. In recent months, Filipino consumers have shifted to other protein sources like chicken meat due to the ASF scare.

“It’s hard to read becase we have an unusual year because of ASF. Normally, in the past few years, the price trend would be downward due to higher production and imports,” he told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

“Farm-gate prices are usually challenged in November and December due to a confluence of events: increased output in imports. But due to this ASF scare, we don’t know yet how it will affect demand in the coming months,” he added.

₧3 Per kilogram decline in farm-gate price of chicken, according to industry group Ubra

Ubra weekly price monitoring showed that farm-gate price of regular-sized broiler as of November 15 was down P3 to P109 per kilogram from the previous week’s average quotation.

This was the fourth straight week that the average farm-gate price for regular-sized broiler declined after average quotation hit P116 per kilogram in october 11.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported that ASF spurred the production of chicken meat and eggs in the third quarter.

output of the poultry subsector, which accounted for 19.44 percent of total farm production, expanded by 8.41 percent yearonyear.

Chicken production grew 8.48 percent to 465,150 MT due to the higher demand for broiler chicken in Central Luzon and Calabarzon, as poultry served as substitute for pork after reports of ASF outbreaks came out.