PH, UK forge new poultry import rules; total ban lifted

FILE / STOCK

The Philippines has agreed to do away with a total ban on imports of poultry products from the United Kingdom, a move that is expected to increase shipments of British poultry products to the country.

Under a “regionalization” agreement forged by the two nations, the Philippines will just impose an import moratorium on specific areas or districts in the UK with disease outbreaks.

This means that trade with disease-free areas of the UK continues uninterrupted, even amid potential HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) outbreaks, the British Embassy Manila said in a statement.

“It specifies that farms, hatcheries, and slaughterhouses in affected districts will be ineligible to export, while those in unaffected areas can proceed under strict health protocols,” it added.

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UK Ambassador Laure Beaufils said the resumption of British poultry trade following a three-year import ban would lead to the arrival of more poultry products to the Philippines.

“I think importers and traders have first and foremost to get reacquainted with the UK market, with UK suppliers and recognize the opportunity that is presented to them, the quality of our products, the quality of our birds and of course the incredibly strong standards that we have,” Beaufils said.

“Once they do, I think the sky’s the limit because they’ll be importing large quantities,” she said in a briefing.

Meat Importers and Traders Association president emeritus Jesus Cham said the UK-PH regionalization agreement was “a step in the right direction.”

“This is a step in the right direction which will be science-based and it means that the protectionist policies of the government cannot be politicized,” Cham said.

To recall, the Department of Agriculture (DA) lifted last month the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from the UK.

The DA imposed the temporary import ban in March 2021 as British authorities informed the World Organization for Animal Health of bird flu outbreaks in South Derbyshire in England affecting birds.

The UK-Philippines trade reached an all-time high of £2.8 billion or approximately P205.9 billion in 2023, an increase of 8.1 percent from a year prior, based on the data provided by the British embassy.

British meat was the second-most exported commodity at £37.2 million as of the first quarter of this year.

Back home, the UK exported 13.47 million kilograms of meat products to the country in the first semester of 2024, according to the Bureau of Animal Industry. Of these, pork accounted for 10.39 million kg of the total.

The UK is one of the country’s leading sources of imported meat, with more than 35 million kilograms of the commodity traded between 2018 and 2022.