The United Broilers and Raisers’ Association (UBRA) opposed the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Animal Industry’s (BAI) stance for more poultry imports as there is an oversupply of chicken in the country.
The group noted that the government’s request to local poultry producers to limit their production in order to “give way” to foreign producers is odd and that the BAI’s claims that poultry imports are too “minimal” to hurt Filipino producers is untrue.
“Imports are not a ‘mere threat’ but it has caused actual damage in the last 25 years. The volume of imports need not be overwhelming to cause damage. It only takes a relatively minimal volume to move farmgate prices from profit to loss as agricultural products are commodities,” UBRA said in an open letter addressed to the agencies.
The United States Department of Agriculture said that the Philippines’ poultry imports is continually increasing from 320,000 metric tons (MT) in 2018 to 345,000 MT in 2019 and expected to reach 390,000 MT this year.
DA earlier said that supply of chicken in the Philippines is good for 253 days, or up to the end of this year.
The letter which was signed by the group’s chairman, Gregorio San Diego and president, Elias Jose Inciong, also detailed that the current farmgate price of chicken has went down even below P70 per kg during the lockdowns in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Private farm sector group, Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI), expressed that the DA is “not listening” to the voice of Filipino poultry raisers.
“PCAFI fully supports the complaint sent to (Agriculture) Secretary (William) Dar which is apparently not taken with serious attention and without considering the plight of the poultry industry. Food production is the main focus of the economic managers to recover from COVID-19 but the people of DA recommended the opposite in favor of foreign producers,” DaniloFausto, PCAFI’s president, explained.
He noted that it is also ironic that DA is supporting foreign farmers whose chicken produce can be sold at a lower price since they are being subsidized by their governments currently dominated by the United States, Brazil and Thailand.
UBRA and PCAFI said that its officials were invited to a virtual meeting last month by DA-BAI for the immediate suspension of imports of poultry meat and poultry products but was instead asked by the government to “self-regulateand limit local production.”
The agricultural groups also mentioned that while BAI intends to deprive local poultry raisers of a better market in the Philippines, it suggested to rather explore opportunities in exports without an established ecosystem.
UBRA and PCAFI are also pushing for the decentralization of functions at DA-BAI; simplification of systems for collection of tariffs and duties and its reporting; and to address undervaluation by comparing data of BAI and Bureau of Customs to minimize misdeclaration of products
The groups also want to conduct studies on trade remedies not only for poultry and livestock sector but the entire agriculture sector; addressing abuses in the implementation of Customs Bonded Warehouse 0 percent tariff privileges; implementation of a cold chain-ready quarantine facilities at customs borders; support for the corn sector and access to affordable yellow corn and feeds when there are no corn harvests; and a resolution to the disconnect between farmgate and retail price through strict enforcement of the Price Act.
