Total volume of meat imports in the country improved while fish unloading volume across all regional fish ports dropped in February from the same month in 2022.
Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed the Philippines imported 89.6 million kilograms (kg) of meat for the period, up by 17.4 percent from February 2022’s 76.3 million kg.
Pork made up bulk of the imports for February 2023 at 39.31 million kg or 44 percent of all meat that entered the country for the period.
The volume is slightly lower compared to February 2022’s pork imports of 39.32 million kg.
Chicken followed with 33.64 million kg or 37.5 percent of all imported meat in February 2023. Chicken imports for the period surged 39 percent from February 2022’s 24.16 million kg.
The BAI report also showed beef imports for February 2023 stood at 12.06 million kg or 13.5 percent of all meat imports in the period.
This is 12 percent higher than the 10.76 million kg of beef imports in February 2022.
The Philippines also imported 4.42 million kg of buffalo for the period, a 118.8 percent jump from February 2022’s 2.02 million kg.
Turkey imports fell 6.4 percent to 25,002 kg from 26,700 kg in February 2022.
Lamb imports stood at 101,120 kg, a 575 percent jump from February 2022’s 14,978 kg while duck imports totaled 45,891 kg , a 5,000 percent increase from 2022 figures of 900 kg.
Meanwhile, fish unloading volume across all regional fish ports recorded a 25 percent drop in February 2023, according to the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA).
PFDA said total fish unloading volume reached 32,694.01 metric tons (MT) compared with February 2022’s 43,568.27 MT.
On a month-to-month basis, February 2023’s unloading volume is also 13.7 percent lower compared to 37,900.16 MT.
PFDA attributed the lower unloading volume to the combined effects of low-pressure area and northeast monsoon last month which brought scattered rains across the country and affected the operations of PFDA ports throughout the country.
Among the regional fish ports in PFDA’s monitoring are the Bulan in Sorsogon; Sual in Pangasinan; General Santos; Davao; Zamboanga; Lucena in Quezon Province; Iloilo; and Navotas.
