The bird flu scare early this year led to a plummeting of the poultry prices across the Philippines and farmers incurred massive losses. Now things are beginning to look up and the prices are continuing to recover to the pre-flu levels according to data by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).
The farm gate prices for broilers continued to recover across the Philippines and have already breached the P92 per Kg in mid October.
The highest farm gate prices recorded during the reference period was P94 per kilogram while the lowest was P91 per kilogram according to the data by BAI.
The mid October farm gate price of P92.56 per kilogram is 68.08% higher than the farm gate prices that were recorded a month earlier which stood at P55.07 per kilogram.
The retail price for a fully dressed chicken was P142.08 as of October 23. This was 2.03% higher than the price for the previous week which stood at P139.25Kg.
The prices for day old chicks have also gone up within the reference period covered by the BAI. The data shows that the price grew by 10.82% in the reference period to P27.75 from a price of P25.04 a week earlier. This figure is 84.75% higher than the price recorded a month earlier which stood at P15.02.
Thanks to the improvement in farm gate prices, there are many farmers who have started replenishing their stocks so as to maximize on the expected high demand in poultry meat during the December holiday season.
While the outbreak of the bird flu had hit mostly the commercial layers, the farm gate prices for broilers took hit because of a general panic among buyers following the government announcement.
After the mass culling of birds, the government had introduced sentinel birds in the farms that had been affected in Central Luzon. So far, the DA has not received any reports of new outbreaks and the crisis was declared over in September. This is what has instilled consumer confidence in the poultry products although the government still has to wait for a confirmation from the World Organization for Animal Health.