DA developing more markets for livestock exports ahead of ASEAN single market

The government is in the process of developing new overseas markets for livestock and poultry products ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic integration into a single market in 2015, according to an Agriculture official.

Negotiations are underway for the Philippines' exportation of livestock and poultry products to Papua New Guinea, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Indonesia, said Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) director Rubina Cresencio.

"We constantly keep in touch with these countries to find out their health protocol and requirements. We are going to conduct a government-to-government collaboration to find out their requirements and protocol, and later on proceed to a business-to-business transaction," she said.

According to the BAI, China and Indonesia want to import beef, while South Korea and Hong Kong want poultry and Papua New Guinea processed meat and pork cuts.

Cresencio said that the Philippines has competition in Thailand when it comes to poultry and Vietnam when it comes to pork. However, it has an advantage over them, she added.

“We are AI [avian influenza]-free, FMD [foot and mouth disease]-free,” she said. “We have greater chances to access to the countries we want to tap.”

Thailand has been AI-free since the beginning of 2013 but experienced an avian flu outbreak last year.

The poultry subsector grew 4.5 percent in 2012, grossing P167.1 billion. It also comprised 14.3 percent of the full-year farm output last year.

Livestock production grew by 1.1 percent to gross P214.3 billion. It comprised16 percent of 2012's farm output. — BM, GMA News