Chicken vendors turn to selling pork amid bird flu outbreak in Pampanga

Poultry vendors at a public market in San Luis, Pampanga have temporarily stopped selling chicken amid the bird flu outbreak.

According to a report by Victoria Tulad on Unang Balita on Monday, vendors said they canceled deliveries of chicken in anticipation of low market demand.

Instead, vendors have increased their orders for pork and fish.

Pork prices have been stable at the market—P190 per kilo for laman (innards), P200 per kilo for liempo, P160 to P165 per kilo of buto-buto (soup bones), P165 per kilo for ribs, P190 per kilo for pork chop, and P140 per kilo of pata.

One of the vendors, Brenda Maglaqui, said she tried selling chicken on Saturday but no one bought any. Most market-goers chose to buy fish and other seafood instead.

Fish vendors Victoria spoke to said some fish varities sold higher due to the high demand.

A kilo of dalagang bukid, for instance, which used to sell for P120 per kilo, now sells for P160. Hasa-hasa, which was at P160 per kilo before, is now being selling for P180. Squid sells for P200 per kilo, while yellowfin tuna is now pegged at P180 per kilo from the previous P160.

Pork sellers worry that the prices of choice cuts may have to be increased in the coming days due to the lack of supply.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Friday disclosed a bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm in Barangay San Agustin, San Luis, Pampanga.

The mass slaughter or culling of thousands of chickens believed infected with avian flu in at least eleven poultry farms in San Luis, Pampanga followed starting Sunday, an official of the Bureau of Animal Industry said. —KG/KVD, GMA News