The Philippines eyes poultry growth target

The Phillipine government expects the value of poultry production to hit or even exceed the official growth target of 2% for 2010, with the first three quarters already recording a 3% increase before the seasonal boost in the last three months of the year.

"Given the growth of [local poultry production] in the nine months [that ended in September] and a surge in demand for the product in the fourth quarter because of the holiday season, we expect it to register a two per cent growth or even exceed it," Bureau of Animal Industry director, Efren C. Nuestro, said in an interview with Business World.

In the nine months to September, poultry production grew 3.01% to 36.69 billion pesos (PHP) from the same period last year, data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) show.

"A two per cent or even a three per cent growth can be easily achieved. We have a lot of chicken supply at present. If the sub-sector already grew by three per cent in the [nine months to September], it can easily sustain this until the end of the year," said Elias Jose M. Inciong, executive vice-president of the Union of Broilers and Raisers Association.