PH chicken output up 2.3% in third-quarter

The country’s chicken output increased in the third quarter to 464,970 metric tons, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

According to the PSA data, this reflects an increase of 2.3 percent compared to the 454,380 metric tons output recorded from July to September last year.

Central Luzon saw the most number of chickens at 151,970 metric tons, liveweight or 32.7 percent share of the total chicken production.

Completing the top five regions with the highest volume of chicken production at liveweight in the third quarter were CALABARZON (77,210 thousand metric tons), Northern Mindanao (40,770 metric tons), Western Visayas (32,840  metric tons), and Central Visayas (29,710 metric tons).

These regions accounted for 71.5 percent share to the country’s total chicken production, the PSA stated.

Further, nine regions saw increases in production during the quarter with CALABARZON experiencing the highest growth of 7,760 metric tons, from 69,450 metric tons last year to 77,210 metric tons.

Meanwhile, the total chicken inventory reached 202.82 million birds as of Sept. 30, up by 1.1 percent than the 200.64 million birds recorded in the same period a year ago.

The population of native or improved chicken saw an improvement of 5.0 percent, while broiler chicken and layer chicken stocks shrank to 2.0 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.  

Of the total chicken inventory, native or improved chicken accounted for 43.0 percent, followed by broiler chicken contributing 34.7 percent, and layer chicken with 22.3 percent share.

Central Luzon saw the highest chicken inventory at 35.8 million birds, followed by CALABARZON with 27.3 million birds and Northern Mindanao with 26.74 million birds. These regions accounted for 44.3 percent share of the country’s total inventory in the third quarter

For the highest inventory of native or improved chicken, Western Visayas topped the list with 12.71 million birds, while Central Luzon reported the highest inventory of broiler chicken with 20.29 million birds and CALABARZON recorded the highest layer chicken stocks with 16.29 million birds.

In addition, the PSA reported that the average farmgate price of broiler chicken declined by 9.8 percent to P131.26 per kilogram at liveweight during the quarter, down from the previous year’s farmgate price of P145.55 per kilogram.

In months, September saw the highest average farmgate price at P136.41 per kilogram, liveweight, while July had the lowest average farmgate price at P126.67 per kilogram, liveweight.