15 Mandaue market stalls closed due to poultry stock shortage

AT LEAST 15 out of 100 stalls selling poultry meat at the Mandaue City Public Market in Barangay Centro have temporarily closed due to the insufficient supply and price increase of poultry products.Edgar Seno, Mandaue City Market administrator, told reporters on Thursday, June 9, 2022 that some poultry meat sellers began closing their stalls last Monday, June 6.Seno said the main reason for the closures is that the city’s local chicken suppliers do not have ample supply of their products.This might be an effect of the prevailing ban on poultry and poultry-related products amid the increase of Avian Influenza (AI) cases in the country, Seno said. Mayor Jonas Cortes ordered the ban in an executive order (EO) he signed on May 31.Under EO 61, live poultry and birds, including day-old chicks, gamefowls, pigeons and pet birds originating from Luzon, Mindanao, and other AI-affected countries, are banned from entering the city.Though Mandaue City has no reported AI cases yet, the reported scarcity of supply has resulted in a huge price increase in several poultry meat products.Some market vendors said they have been forced to increase their poultry meat products’ prices because their suppliers have increased their prices too.Data from the Mandaue City Public Market shows that a whole chicken is now sold at P190. The price of a whole chicken was sold at P180 in April.Chicken drumsticks, wings and thighs are now sold at P210 a kilo. Last April, the price of drumsticks, wings and thigh only cost around P200 per kilogram.One poultry meat vendor admitted to reporters that he sells chicken drumsticks and wings at P230 per kilo to gain enough profit.Dr. Karen Merilles, Mandaue City veterinarian, assured that Cebu has enough supply of pork, chicken, and other market goods from local suppliers. She said the increase may have resulted from the fluctuating prices of petroleum products caused by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.She added that Cebu remains free from AI and African swine fever.No shortageIn a separate interview, Cebu Provincial Veterinary Office chief Dr. Mary Rose Vincoy clarified that despite what is being reported in Mandaue, the supply of poultry meat products in Cebu has remained abundant.Vincoy told reporters that the lack of poultry products in Mandaue City is due to technical problems being felt in some poultry dressing plants in Cebu which has affected production and delivery.“Apart from that, there are also logistical issues that are also being addressed by poultry suppliers,” Vincoy said.Vicoy further said that aside from Mandaue City, the same problem is also being felt in public markets in the cities of Talisay, Naga and in Consolacion town but they were addressed immediately.She added that poultry farms across Cebu Province are now maximizing production in response to the Provincial Government’s thrust of reviving economic activities. (HIC, ANV / JKV)