Meat imports rise 26% in 3 months

MANILA, Philippines —  The country’s meat imports from January to March rose by more than a quarter on an annual basis to over 340,000 metric tons (MT), driven by higher purchases abroad of key items led by pork, latest government data showed.

Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) data indicated that meat imports in the first three months reached 344,594 MT, nearly 26 percent higher than the 273,640 MT recorded in the same period last year.

Pork remained as the most imported meat product during the three-month period with an estimated volume of 183,188 MT, according to BAI.

Pork imports expanded by 42.55 percent year-on-year from 128,510 MT recorded in the first quarter of last year.

Industry traders and importers earlier noted that the country would remain reliant on foreign supplies to meet the country’s pork demand as domestic pork output is still insufficient.

BAI data also showed that chicken meat imports expanded by almost 15 percent to 111,361 MT from 97,031 MT.

Meanwhile, beef imports rose by 24.24 percent to 43,881 MT from 35,319 MT.

The country’s lamb imports also rose by 26 percent on an annual basis to 154 MT from 122 MT.

Imports of buffalo meat, turkey meat and duck meat declined during the quarter.

Buffalo meat imports fell by half to 5,935 MT from 12,315 MT while duck imports declined by 44.44 percent to 18 MT from 33 MMT.

BAI data also showed that the country’s turkey meat imports plunged by 82 percent to 54 MT from 307 MT.

Brazil remained as the country’s top meat supplier with a total volume of almost 150,000 MT in the first quarter. The South American was the country’s top import source for beef, chicken meat and pork products, according to the BAI.

The US was the second largest meat import source in the first quarter at 45,386 MT, followed by Spain at 40,204 MT.