To provide the Philippines with more sources of food products amid the pandemic, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on poultry products from the Netherlands.
Under DA Memorandum Order 49 series of 2021 signed Wednesday by William Dar, DA secretary, the move was made after the Netherlands provided evidence that it already contained its bird flu incidence.
The issuance specifically allowed the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen originating from the Netherlands but must still comply with existing importation rules of the DA.
The ban on importation of poultry products from the Netherlands was first implemented last January 11following widespread outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Despite the ban issued by the DA, it still allowed incoming poultry shipments from the Netherlands that were already in transit and those with documents processed before the order took effect as long as they were not sourced from five identified high-risk areas.
According to data from the Bureau of Animal Industry, the Netherlands provided 4,076,102 kilograms (kg) of chicken to the Philippines in the first half of the year or roughly 2 percent of the 185,544,725 kg of total chicken imported by the country for the period.
Of the total chicken imports from the Netherlands, 2,951,511 kg are classified as deboned chicken meat, 897,196 kg are chicken cuts and the remaining 227,395 kg are offals.
The DA has been vigilant in avoiding the re-emergence of bird flu in the country as the World Organization for Animal Health declared the Philippines free of the last remaining A(H5N6) strain of the avian influenza virus last January.
Amid this development, the United States DA earlier projected the Philippines’ local chicken production to be lower at 1.33 million metric tons (MT) from 1.36 million MT.
Based on the DA’s monitoring of 11 markets in Metro Manila as of yesterday, the prevailing price of whole chicken was at P140 per kg, with the lowest available at P120 per kg and the highest at P170 per kg.
