THE country’s meat imports last year remained nearly flat, at around 845,000 metric tons (MT), as the spread of the dreaded African swine fever (ASF) in exporting countries put pressure on the global meat supply.
Local traders have projected that total imports in 2019 would settle at the same figure recorded in 2018 due mainly to the jump in international meat prices, particularly pork.
Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) data showed that the country imported 844,971.338 metric tons of meat products last year, just a tad lower than the 848,660.358 MT recorded in 2018.
The 18-percent hike in chicken meat imports, which reached a record-high 340,332.312 MT, was enough to offset the 14-percent decline in pork purchases. BAI data indicated that pork imports last year reached 335,786.89 MT.
Historical data from the BAI, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, revealed that this was the first time that chicken imports overtook the country’s purchases of imported pork.
“[It was] a struggle for pork [imports as] prices [were] too high. Beef [imports] were likely flat, pork [imports] decreased, poultry [imports] likely went up, [total meat imports] may be flat,” Meat Importers and Traders Association President Jesus C. Cham told the BusinessMirror in an interview last month.
The United States was the country’s top source of imported meat last year, accounting for 17.29 percent of total purchases, or 146,121.931 MT. However, purchases from the US fell by nearly 8 percent from the 155,931.041 MT recorded in 2018.
Key cuts
BAI data showed that shipments of chicken meat to the Philippines went up due to the double-digit growth in purchases of prime cuts, including chicken leg quarters, and mechanically deboned meat (MDM).
The combined import volume of chicken cuts, which includes parts like wings, and chicken leg quarters (CLQ), rose by 20.43 percent to 110,295.822 MT, from 91,585.783 MT recorded in 2018.
Industry players attributed the increase to the shift in demand for poultry meat as it was cheaper than pork. Global pork prices doubled because of the jump in China’s demand. China needed to plug the shortfall in its local hog supply after it was drastically cut by ASF outbreaks.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) world meat price index peaked at 191.6 in December 2019 as global production played catch-up with the surge in import demand, particularly from Asian countries that have lost millions of hog population due to ASF.
On an annual basis, the meat price index rose to its five-year high last year at an average of 175.8 points, FAO data showed.
BAI data indicated that imports of chicken MDM, the raw material used by local manufacturers in making processed meat products, expanded by 13.53 percent to a record-high 219,061.866 MT.
Beef imports also recorded double-digit growth last year, with purchases reaching 136,415.33 MT, 12.83 percent higher than the 120,901.156 MT recorded in 2018.
However, the country’s buffalo meat imports declined 29 percent year-on-year to 31,510.526 MT while purchases of lamb meat rose by 20 percent to 926.281 MT.