The average farm-gate price of broilers continued to recover as it rose for the third consecutive week and inched closer to P90 per kilogram, latest industry survey data showed.
Data from the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) showed that as of October 16 the average farm-gate price of regular-sized broilers (1.5 kg to 1.69 kg) was at P88.5 per kg, slightly higher than the previous week’s P87.33 per kg.
Ubra data showed that regular-sized broilers in Tarlac were still being sold for P89 per kg while those in Batangas rose to P88 per kg from last week’s P85 per kg.
The average farm-gate price of off-sized broilers (1.34 kg to 1.49 kg) remained at P85 per kg while prime-sized broilers (1.7 kg and above) were sold for an average of P91.22 per kg, P2.89 higher than last week’s P88.33 per kg, Ubra data showed.
The farm-gate price of broilers broke the P85-per-kg barrier last week as local raisers “involuntarily” cut output due to anemic domestic demand, Ubra told the BusinessMirror.
Raisers have been grappling with a glut in chicken supply due to a high local inventory of local and imported poultry and the reduction in demand.
Ubra President Elias Jose Inciong told the BusinessMirror the recovery in prices could be attributed to the decision of raisers to implement production cuts.
“The industry has involuntarily followed the desires of DA-BAI [Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Animal Industry] to ‘self-regulate.’ We have reduced production because of losses in the face of cheap imports,” he said.
Inciong said local broiler output has been slashed by 30 percent to 40 percent to achieve a “supply-demand equilibrium where producers can earn some income and not suffer losses.”
“We lost the HRI [hotel, restaurant and institutional] market during the lockdown which [accounts for] 30 percent. Assume that 10 percent is back so [we’re missing] 20 percent for HRI,” he said.
“Household demand also contracted because of income loss as a result of Covid-19 quarantines.”
The country’s dressed chicken inventory as of October 5 rose by 8.4 percent to 85,470.06 metric tons (MT) from the previous week’s 78,834.10 MT, National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) data showed.
Latest NMIS data showed that more than half of the dressed chicken inventory, or 46,901.45 MT, in local cold storage facilities were imported. The remaining 38,568.61 MT were locally produced chicken meat, based on NMIS data.
The total dressed chicken inventory during the period was 21.34 percent higher than the 70,436.9 MT recorded on September 7.
The volume was also triple the 27,942.55 MT dressed chicken inventory recorded on September 30, 2019, NMIS data showed.
The agency attached to the DA said the data did not include fresh chilled chicken and mechanically deboned meat of chicken.
Local chicken meat output this year is projected to decline by almost 14 percent to 1.25 million metric tons (MMT), from last year’s record-high 1.45 MMT due to anticipated production cuts by raisers, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected.
The USDA expects output to recover next year and rise by 10 percent to 1.375 MMT.