As of September 18th 2017, the Philippines dressed chicken inventory rose by 43% from 24,377.46 metric tons recorded in 2016 to 34,869.82 metric tons. This is from the data supplied by the National Meat Inspection Service and represents significant growth.
The demand for broiler meat had dropped significantly following the outbreak of bird flu in Central Luzon which had given rise to the buildup of dressed chicken inventory.
According to the data, most of the dressed chicken that was in cold storage amounting to 26, 528.28 metric tons was from local production while the rest was imported.
The biggest chicken inventory was from Central Luzon which accounted for some 10,353.54 metric tons. This was followed by the National Capital Region which had an inventory of 8,243.47 metric tons while the Region 4-A had 3,677.17 metric tons.
The farm-gate price for the broiler meat has fallen drastically in the last few months after the government announcement that bird flu had struck commercial layers in Nueva Ecija and San Luis, Pampanga.
Soon after the Department of Agriculture(DA) announced an outbreak of the avian influenza in San Luis, sales dropped almost 50%.
The sharp decline in sales prompted the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) to lift a ban in the shipment of poultry products to Mindanao and Visayas from Luzon as the ban was already having an adverse impact on poultry growers.
Poultry exporters have also been affected as many of the foreign buyers from the UAE and Japan have placed restrictions on Filipino poultry products. The restrictions will only be lifted once the Filipino poultry industry regains “flu-free” status.
According to the Philippines Bureau of Animal Industry, the country is likely to gain a “flu-free” status by December 2017 once the government in conjunction with poultry growers has implemented all the measures required to manage the flu in the affected areas.
The Bureau of Animal Industry estimates that it is going to take roughly 75 days to implement all the mitigation measures that have been prescribed in the government manual for managing the outbreaks of bird flu.
In the World Organization of Animal Health guidelines, there is need for a 90-day waiting period after the cleaning and disinfection of the last infected poultry farm before the country can be declared flu-free.