MANOK BABAHA

INAASAHANG bubuhos ang chicken meat sa bansa ngayong taon kung saan tinatayang aabot sa hindi bababa sa 1.424 million metric tons (MMT) ang kabuuang suplay, mas mataas ng 136,000 metric tons sa 1.288-MMT estimated total demand.

Tinukoy ang government data na iprinisinta ng Department of Agriculture (DA) Agribusiness and Mar-keting Assistance Ser-vice (AMAS), sinabi ni United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) president Elias Jose Inciong na kasama na sa  total supply vol-ume ang imported stocks.

Sa first quarter pa lamang, ang bansa ay magkakaroon ng poultry supply surplus na 16,657 MT, habang sa second quarter ay  59,281 MT.

“The country would have 16,974 MT excess supply in the third quarter and by fourth quarter, when demand is usually high due to Christmas, there would be a forecasted glut of 42,939 MT,” ayon kay In-ciong.

Paliwanag ni Inciong, ang pagtaas sa supply ay dahil sa agresibong  pagtaas ng local production bunga ng inaasaang paglobo ng demand para sa broiler sanhi ng mas mataas na purchasing power ng mga Fili-pino.

“However, this aggressive expansion by existing and new small and medium-size broiler players seems to be a ‘blinded’ in-vestment as industry stakeholders do not have a clear picture of the sector’s mar-ket situation due to lack of proper data system,” sabi pa ni Inciong. .

“People are making investment decisions based on wrong data. They still think there’s space or oppor-tunity in this sector — and this is true not only in producers but even for importers,” he told the Busi-nessMirror. “The number of meat traders have increased from 80 traders to over 300 traders today.”

Ang pagbuhos ng broiler supply, na nagsimula noong Agosto ng nakaraang taon, ay nagpababa sa farm-gate prices sa below profitable levels,  kung saan ilan sa maliliit na players ay nalulugi na ang nagbabawas ng production volume.

Hanggang noong April 22,  ang average farm-gate price ng regular-sized broiler ay nasa P60.33 per kilo-gram,  halos P15 na mas mababa sa lower-end ng  P75-P85 break-even level. Ang average farm-gate price ng regular-sized boiler hanggang noong April 12 ay nasa P71 per kilogram.

Nagpalabas kamakailan si Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Pinol ng Administrative Circular No. 03 na nagtatakda ng suggested retail price ng broiler sa P128 per kilogram upang matumbasan ang average farm-gate price na P78 per kilogram na naitala noong April 5-April 12.