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Thursday, February 05, 2004
RP poultry producers seek export markets
By Jessica B. Natad
POULTRY producers in the country will soon export their frozen chicken to sustain the business of the entire poultry industry.
According to Swift Foods Inc. (SFI) president and chief operating officer Bernardo Concepcion, most producers in the country including SFI are now looking for buyers outside the country.
“If we can’t find buyers here in the country, we need to export our products,” Concepcion said.
He said the total inventory of frozen chicken of producers in the country including the big ones Swift, Purefoods and Universal Robina, had gone up to 500,000 frozen chickens a day from 100,000.
During a forum on the avian bird flu virus at the Sarrosa Hotel Monday, Concepcion said SFI is talking with Japan, which has expressed interest in importing Philippine chicken.
Japan is one of the 10 countries in Asia hit by the bird flu. The others are South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Pakistan, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, China and Indonesia.
Concepcion said the entire poultry industry—from the growers, integrators, distributors and even the fastfood chains selling cooked chicken—have been negatively affected by the bird flu scare.
Retailers of chicken in Cebu said sales for raw chicken slid 35 to 40 percent in the first week of January, while that of live chicken plunged 95 percent.
The sales of fast food services selling cooked chicken also dropped by five to 10 percent.
Concepcion assured Filipinos that “it is safe to eat cooked chicken.”
(February 5, 2004 issue)
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