Meat imports rose 9.6 percent in the first six months this year to 648 million kilograms (kg) from only 591 million kilograms in the same period last year, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said.
The agency said the import expansion reflected in part the sanguine view of industry members on the economy this year as a whole even though challenges such as the African swine fever (ASF), for instance, hobble hog raisers.
BAI data show that in the first half, pork formed the bulk of imported meat totaling 317 million kg or 48.9 percent of all meat purchased overseas. This was also10.7 percent higher than year-ago pork imports of 286.3 million kg.
The Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture in Manila forecast a 6 percent increase in pork imports next year to 510,000 metric tons carcass weight equivalent from this year’s 480,000 MT CWE due the continued animal disease challenges, strong economic growth and forecast population increases.
CWE refers to the weight of meat cuts and meat products converted to an equivalent weight of a dressed carcass including bone, fat, tendons, ligaments and inedible trimmings.
Chicken meat followed with 221.6 million kg or 34.2 percent of meat imports for the period. This translates to chicken import growth averaging 4.1 percent higher from year-ago of only 212.8 million kg.
Beef imports totaled 84.9 million kg or 13.1 percent of all meat imports. This was 29.3 percent higher than last year’s 65.7 million kg.
The Philippines also imported 23.1 million kg of buffalo meat, down 8.7 percent from last year’s 25.3 million kg as turkey imports jumped 539.8 percent to 722,529 kg from 112,923 kg.
Lamb meat imports in the first half this year also fell 22.4 percent to 327,379 kg from previous year’s 422,137 kg. Imported duck meat similarly dipped 47.4 percent to 85,855 kg from 163,342 kg.
The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Manila earlier projected the Philippines to import more beef, carabeef and pork products next year as domestic production continue to lag demand,
The FAS in Manila forecast beef and carabeef imports in the Philippines reaching 226,000 metric tons (MT) carcass weight equivalent (CWE) in 2025, up 2.7 percent from this year’s forecast of only 220,000 MT CWE.
