Manila, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture orders the temporary suspension of the importation of poultry products from Brazil.
During Malacañang press briefing on Monday, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. confirmed the implementation of an import ban from Brazil due to a bird flu outbreak.
“Yes, we will have to ban the whole country from exporting chicken to us. But, of course, hindi lang naman Brazil ang nagsu-supply sa Pilipinas,” Tiu Laurel said.
On Friday, the first outbreak of the disease was recorded at a poultry farm in Brazil, killing almost 7,400 breeders in Rio Grande do Sul.
This outbreak poses a threat on world supply of poultry products given that Brazil is considered as the world’s top producer and exporter of poultry meat.
Despite this, DA assures that the Philippines will still have sufficient supply of poultry coming from other foreign exporters, hence will not directly affect the country.
“As far as supply is concerned, I really don’t see any issue, baka may brief supply gap lang na baka one or two weeks, because they have to change origins. But in general, I don’t see any issue, because even our local poultry industry medyo maganda ang production,” the secretary added.
Tiu Laurel explained that this outbreak pushes the government to seek other importers that may pose slightly higher prices.
He acknowledged that Brazil imports are the cheapest poultry products, but they will have to go with buying from other exporters with a slightly higher budget.
“Ang advantage lang ng Brazil, kaya malakas sila, dahil sila ang pinakamura. So, baka mas makabili lang tayo ng, iyong mga importers o processors, na mas mahal na kaunti pero I think the price difference is only a few percentage,” Tiu Laurel explained.
Amidst this, he assured the public that this will only pose a small difference, and is not expected to fully affect prices of poultry in local markets.