Philippines bans poultry imports from 3 EU countries

Three more EU member states have been banned from exporting poultry to the Philippines as they battle major outbreaks of the H5N8 virus. This week a temporary ban was imposed on the import of poultry and wild birds and their products, including poultry MEAT, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from Denmark, Sweden and France.

Over the past couple of months, 25 EU member states have reported cases of avian influenza, but only 13 of them have experienced outbreaks on large farms. Germany, Poland and the Netherlands have already been banned from the Philippine poultry market because of this issue. A similar move was made earlier this month for poultry imports from the UK.

However, these decisions could push up the price of poultry products in the Philippine market, warns Jesús Cham, president of the Meat Importers and Traders Association. “It is unfortunate that the supply situation is becoming increasingly tense. This will lead to higher raw material costs for processors and, later, for consumers. We need to quickly find a solution to this problem,” he said. 

Since February, the Philippines has decided to increase import quotas for pork and poultry in an attempt to keep prices under control. The country is facing a shortage of animal protein due to the ongoing outbreak of ASF that began in 2019.