Lingering congestion at the Port of Manila, coupled with the unstable foreign exchange rate and volatile fuel prices, is putting upward pressure on poultry and meat prices, especially as the peak season approaches.
Jesus Cham, President Emeritus and a key founder of the Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA), said port congestion usually occurs during the “BER” months, but the situation has persisted since last year’s peak season.
“The port has been congested since last year. It’s every year before but only during the peak season, so my company is reluctant to import,” he said.
According to Cham, many shipments have been delayed by several weeks because importers have been unable to withdraw their cargo and return empty containers due to the lack of space at container yards.
As a result, importers incur at least PHP50,000 in additional costs per container for each day of delay, depending on the value of the cargo. This is on top of trucking fees of PHP1,500 to PHP2,000 per day.
Aside from port congestion, Cham said the peso-dollar exchange rate has remained volatile. The peso has already breached the PHP61-per-dollar level, increasing import costs. For every dollar, he said, importers now have to pay PHP2 more.
Despite these cost pressures, traders have held off on raising prices because they have yet to determine the full impact on the market.
“You have so many pressure points wanting to push prices up, and so far, demand is weak,” he said.
For the first half this year, the country’s total meat imports grew by 12 percent to 872,274 metric tons (MT), driven by strong demand for pork, chicken, and beef. Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that shipments increased from 778,100 MT during the same period last year.
The trend, Cham said, points to higher import volumes in the second half of the year because small investors are aggressively importing, but larger importers such as his company have tempered their purchases because of mounting cost pressures.
