The country’s chicken laying flock inventory as of July 1 rose by 6.4 percent to a record-level of 60.64 million birds driven by an influx of new players in the layer industry.
Latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report showed that the population of layers during the reference period expanded by 3.64 million birds from 57 million recorded in the same period of last year.
“Of the total laying flock, 38 percent were native/improved chicken and 62 percent accounted for layer chicken,” the PSA said in its report titled “Chicken Egg Situation Report” published on Thursday.
PSA data showed that the layer chicken population as of July 1 reached a record-high of 37.57 million birds while native/improved chicken inventory reached 23.07 million birds.
“Population of native/improved chicken and layer chicken posted increments of 1.3 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively,” the PSA said.
The PSA said Calabarzon remained as the top region with the highest population of chicken laying flock at 13.83 million. It was followed by Central Luzon with 10.78 million birds and Northern Mindanao with 5.88 million birds, according to the PSA.
“The combined population of these three regions accounted for 50.3 percent of the country’s total chicken laying flock,” it said in its report.
The increase in chicken laying flock led to the 13.1 percent expansion in total chicken egg output in the second quarter of the year, according to the PSA.
“The total chicken egg production from April to June 2021 was estimated at 169.93 thousand metric tons. This was higher by 13.1 percent compared with the previous year’s same quarter output of 148.45 thousand metric tons,” it said.
The BusinessMirror earlier reported that the country’s egg output soared to a record level in the first half, but layer raisers are not rejoicing as farm-gate prices start to crash, which may worsen next year as production is anticipated to further surge.
Earlier, PSA data showed that chicken egg production from January to June rose by 8 percent year-on-year to an unprecedented level of 320,000 MT or equivalent to 6.72 billion pieces of eggs.
The record-level first-half output is an indication that expansion in the layer industry—driven by influx of new players from broiler and hog sectors—is not slowing down any time soon, industry players told the BusinessMirror.
The country’s chicken egg output last year reached an unparalleled level of 605,786.16 MT, the first time in history that total production breached the 600,000-MT level.
“There is already a supply glut. The players that incurred losses in the broiler and hog industries ventured into chicken egg production,” Gregorio San Diego, chairman of the Philippine Egg Board Association, told the BusinessMirror.
Investing in chicken egg production seemed lucrative last year, particularly at the start of the pandemic, since demand for the commodity rose, driven by the months-long lockdown and rise of community resellers and home-based bakery and pastry shops.
However, new entrants immediately seized the opportunity, particularly hog raisers reeling from the impact of African swine fever on their businesses. 30