Food security remains elusive

Broiler raisers have been lamenting about the declining liveweight prices of chicken, with prices falling by more than P20 per kilo after Christmas, the steepest decline ever.

- MARY ANN LL. REYES

According to United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) chairman Elias Jose Inciong, while it has already been traditional that after Christmas, there is a drop in demand and supplies are high, what makes this year different is that there is a record drop in prices.

He noted that while inventory is equal with last year's, demand this year is poorer.

UBRA reported that the average liveweight price of regular-sized broiler (1.5 to 1.69 kilos) as of Dec. 27 collapsed to P110 per kilo from P131.50 per kilo last Dec. 20. Prices continued to decline after Dec. 27 to as low as P110 per kilo which is the breakeven cost for most broiler raisers.

Inciong said that the drop is very precipitous, with the decline in prices after Christmas only around P5 to P10 per kilo.

It has been noted that the drop in liveweight prices comes at a time when broiler raisers reel from higher production costs, in particular the elevated day-old-chick prices that have remained above P40 per head throughout last year.

As early as last November, UBRA had been complaining that farmgate prices for broilers or chicken raised for meat production have dropped to P80 per kilo, which is way below the estimated production cost of P105 to P110 per kilo, leaving broiler producers with losses of around P25 to P30 per kilo of chicken.

In June of last year, the farmgate price or the price at which farmers sell their produce, was at P159.94 per kilo.

Chicken farmers were hoping that the usually high demand for chicken during the holiday season would bring farmgate prices up. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

What is sadder though is the fact that while the live-weight prices, referring to the price of chicken before it is dressed, has dropped significantly, the retail price of dressed (slaughtered, defeathered, eviscerated whole bird with the head and feet removed and ready-to-cook) chicken has remained stable.