Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Monday said the Philippines will impose a nationwide ban on poultry imports from Brazil following a confirmed outbreak of avian influenza in the South American country.
In a Palace briefing, Tiu Laurel confirmed that the Department of Agriculture (DA) will prohibit all poultry shipments from Brazil due to the absence of a regionalization agreement that would otherwise allow imports from unaffected areas.
“Basically, they were hit with bird flu, and as of the moment, we don’t have a regionalization agreement with Brazil. So, yes, we will have to ban the whole country from exporting chicken to us,” Tiu Laurel said.
Brazil is the Philippines’ top supplier of poultry meat, particularly frozen chicken, due to its competitive pricing. The ban is expected to cause a slight increase in costs for importers and processors, who will now need to source from alternative countries.
“The only advantage of Brazil, why they’re strong, is because they’re the cheapest. So, we might just buy from, the importers or processors, that are a little more expensive, but I think the price difference is just a few percentage points,” Tiu Laurel said.
Despite the ban, the agriculture chief assured the public that the overall supply of chicken and processed meat products will remain stable. He acknowledged the possibility of a short-term supply adjustment period.
“Maybe there’s just a brief supply gap of maybe one or two weeks, because they have to change origins. But in general, I don’t see any issue,” Tiu Laurel said, citing a healthy domestic poultry production sector.
“Even our local poultry industry has pretty good production,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department is coordinating with importers to identify alternative sources and ensure continued supply in the local market.