Chicken prices up by P10 per kilo DA

The retail price of chicken has increased by P10 per kilo as it is being sold for as high as P230 per kilo compared to the previous P220 per kilo, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

- BELLA CARIASO

Based on the DA's latest monitoring of Metro Manila markets, the retail price of chicken ranged between P170 and P230 per kilo.

On Thursday, it ranged between P170 and P220 per kilo.

Gregorio San Diego, chairman emeritus of the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) and Philippine Egg Board, bewailed the disparity between the farmgate price and the retail cost of chickens.

"The retail price of agricultural products is always far from the farmgate price. Prices of live broilers in the farms ranged from P120 to P127 per kilo," San Diego told The STAR.

Based on UBRA's monitoring of the farmgate price of chicken in Luzon, it is P119 per kilo in Tarlac, P125 per kilo in Batangas, Pampanga, P125 per kilo; Cavite, P125 per kilo and Bulacan, P121 per kilo.

"The broiler farmers decided to lessen their production as they are not earning. They are suffering losses for the last eight months," San Diego said.

Meanwhile, the DA's decision to add eggs in relief packs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is a win-win solution amid oversupply and the continued drop in the farmgate price, San Diego said.

In 2010, egg producers proposed to former agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala to add eggs in DSWD's relief packs, San Diego recalled.

They recently proposed this to Agriculture Undersecretary for livestock Deogracias Victor Savellano, he noted.