The Philippines will once again import poultry and its products from Germany and Peru after several years of suspension, as both countries have contained their respective outbreaks of bird flu, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The DA issued Department Circular (DC) Nos. 54 and 56 to lift the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen, from both countries.
The agency noted that all import transactions with Germany and Peru involving the identified commodities are now permitted, provided that they comply with existing rules and regulations.
Based on the two DCs, authorities from Germany and Peru reported that they had successfully resolved all cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or bird flu, within their borders.
The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) has since confirmed these developments and that there have been no additional recorded outbreaks, the DA said.
Following its own evaluation, the agency ruled that the risk of contamination from the entry of imported poultry and their products from Germany and Peru is “negligible.”
The DA earlier suspended poultry imports from Germany in 2020 following a reported outbreak of bird flu in the town of Bretzfeld, situated in the Hohenlohekreis district of Baden-Württemberg.
Meanwhile, a poultry import ban was implemented against Peru in 2022 after the presence of HPAI was detected in domestic birds in the South American country.
The resumption of imports from both nations is expected to strengthen the country’s poultry supply and help ease price pressures ahead of an anticipated increase in demand over the holiday season.
Government data showed that chicken imports reached 369,926 metric tons (MT) from January to August, up by 15 percent from 322,007 MT in the same period last year.
Local poultry production, as a whole, rose by 4.8 percent to 823,140 MT in the third quarter alone from 785,100 MT a year ago.
In a bid to protect the local poultry sector from a bird flu outbreak, the DA is once again imposing a temporary ban on poultry imports from Minnesota in the United States (US) following a new bird flu case.
Under DC 55, the DA said the import suspension covers domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen.
A trade restriction on the US state was deemed necessary to “prevent the entry of HPAI virus and protect the health of the local poultry population.”
With the ban in place, the DA has suspended the processing and evaluation of applications and the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSICs), documents required for commodities to enter the country.
All previously approved SPSICs are automatically revoked, while shipments that were in transit, loaded, or accepted at port on or before the order took effect shall be allowed entry, provided that the poultry was slaughtered or processed on or before Aug. 18.
The temporary suspension on poultry imports from Minnesota comes after several outbreaks of HPAI in domestic birds in the counties of Wright, Big Stone, Kandiyohi, Otter Tail, Becker, Ravalli, and Benton in September.
The DA recently lifted a 10-month import restriction on poultry products from Minnesota last August after it initially contained the spread of the animal disease.
Since 2016, the Philippines and the US have had a regionalization agreement under which a statewide ban will be imposed if HPAI infects three or more counties in a single state.
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