THE country’s chicken supply last December grew by more than half, reaching 25,220.80 metric tons (MT), or 63.42 percent, higher than the 15,432.70 MT recorded a year ago, according to the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).
NMIS data showed that locally produced chicken accounted for 62.78 percent of the December inventory at 15,834.16 MT. The figure was more than three-fourths, or 78.77 percent, of the 8,857.15 MT locally produced chicken posted in the same period last year.
The remaining volume consisted of imported chicken, according to NMIS data. The volume of imported chicken in cold storages expanded by 42.75 percent to 9,386.64 MT, from the 6,575.55 MT recorded in December 2015.
On a monthly basis, local-chicken inventory as of December 26 was 32.75 percent lower than the 37,503.89 MT recorded last November.
The NMIS said it surveyed only accredited cold-storage facilities. Fresh-chilled chicken, mechanically deboned meat were not included in the NMIS data.
Data from the attached agency of the Department of Agriculture also showed that frozen-pork inventory before 2016 ended expanded by 20.14 percent to 13,891.48 MT, from 11,563.09 MT posted a year ago.
Imports accounted for the bulk of the frozen-pork inventory. According to the NMIS, pork imports abroad reached 13,079.59 MT, or 94 percent of the total December inventory.
The volume of frozen-pork imports is 24.27 percent higher than the 10,525.41 MT recorded a year ago.
Local pork in cold storages declined by 21.76 percent to 811.89 MT, from the 1,037.68 MT recorded in December 2015.
For the frozen-pork data, the NMIS said it included stock inventory in accredited commercial and in-house cold storage in slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants.
Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. (ProPork) President Edwin G. Chen told the BusinessMirror that hog production in 2016 reached 2.16 million MT (MMT), 2 percent higher than the 2.12 MMT produced in 2015.
“Hog production last year likely grew by around 2 percent, 1 [percent] to 2 percent, compared to the previous year’s production,” Chen said, attributing the output growth to the expansion of hog farms.
Chen added that the usual uptick in demand during the holiday season is another factor that contributed to the increase in livestock production.
Local traders are allowed to import chicken and pork under the so-called minimum access volume (MAV) scheme of the World Trade Organization. Pork imports within MAV are usually slapped a lower tariff.