By Lilybeth Ison/PNA
MANILA — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) on Friday offered “advisory support” to the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the formulation of policies to improve the farm sector’s welfare amid a possible chicken meat shortage in the second quarter of this year.
“As the country’s champion for market competition, the PCC stands ready to offer advisory support to the Department of Agriculture in the formulation of policies that meet the dual objectives of promoting healthy market competition and improving the welfare of producers in the agriculture sector,” said PCC Chairman Arsenio Balisacan, in a statement emailed to the Philippine News Agency,
While the PCC recognizes the DA’s timely efforts to proactively assist poultry raisers, Balisacan said, “an agreement among competitors to collectively raise prices is considered anti-competitive and illegal under Section 14(a) of the Philippine Competition Act”.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol earlier said there is a looming shortage of chicken in the country due to an apparent disagreement among stakeholders on the price of the commodity.
“The stakeholders could not seem to agree on what to do, but I hope they will,” said Piñol, in an interview with the media on Tuesday.
He noted that prices of chicken have fallen to about PHP38 in some areas and farmers are losing, so “they should all agree to increase the farm gate price by at least PHP10 every week until such time they are able to reach the level where they will not be losing money anymore”.
The DA chief expressed concern that if the current situation continues, “some of the small players might get out of the business and we might have shortage of chicken by second quarter of the year.”
Balisacan said to address the concerns of poultry raisers and avoid harm to consumers, “it is more efficient to allow producers to independently adjust their own prices or output.”
“Concerned agencies may also consider pro-competitive forms of assistance such as access to agricultural credit or the provision of research and extension services to boost the productivity of poultry raisers,” he added.
However, the United Broiler-Raisers Association (UBRA) disagreed with the proposal of the PCC, saying there are “distortive” market control elements beyond the farmgate issue.
“Apparently, they do not understand the situation. There are distortive market control elements beyond the farmgate. It’s their job to look into that situation, said UBRA president Bong Inciong in a message to the media.
“If we are able to set our prices in the first place independently without pressure from distortive forces, there would be no need for us to seek help from the government,” he added.
Meanwhile, Piñol said he already ordered a review of the volume of chicken being imported into the country as this might be too much for the local market to absorb, and could end up hurting the local poultry industry.
Stocks in the cold storage right now for local chicken stands at 18 million kilograms while imported chicken is at 16 million kg. “That would represent over supply. The market could not absorb (such volume),” he said.
As such, he said, big players would tend to lower the price of chicken to the detriment of local producers.
Piñol said under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement with trade partners, the Philippines can institute remedies to protect local industries from being injured by over-importation.
