Philippine Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has vowed to take a tougher stance on chicken imports, which he said is pulling down prices of local chicken and resulting in losses for domestic poultry raisers. Mr Alcala said he “will review import permits, as well as minimum access volume [MAV] allocations,” and that all importations will be done only after consultation with industry stakeholders. He vowed that the DA will mete out stiffer penalties to chicken smugglers, who have long been a thorn on the local producers’ side. He also said he’d much prefer if the local poultry industry take charge of any chicken importation to enable it to match the import volume with the industry requirements.
Source: Asian Agribusiness
