MANILA, Philippines?The Department of Agriculture is considering imposing a lower suggested retail price for chicken, considering the huge difference between farmgate prices and actual market prices of the commodity.

During Thursday?s National Price Coordinating Council meeting, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup said this measure had to be done to spur consumption of the product, and in effect accelerate its turnover.

Citing figures from poultry raisers and from monitoring done by the DA?s Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, he said the farmgate price for chicken was now at P58 a kilo, while the prevailing wet market price stood at P130 a kilo.

?If we lower (the suggested reference price band), the turnover and consumption level will be improved,? he explained. ?There is now an imbalance?low farmgate price, and too high prices at the retail level.?

He related that the poultry industry was awash with supply, with inventory pegged at around seven million kilos from the usual three million to 3.5 million kilos.

Consumption, however, was sluggish, leaving too much available supply in the market.

Elias Jose Inciong, external vice president of the United Broiler Raisers Association, said that in setting the retail price for poultry, various costs apart from the farmgate price were considered. These included transport and marketing costs, and middleman?s fees, if applicable.

Even factoring these costs and including some margins, however, he said the current prevailing retail price for poultry was still too high.

Both Salacup and Inciong declined to say how much lower the price could go from the current prevailing rate of P130 a kilo.

By next week and following a consultation with industry stakeholders, Salacup said a new suggested reference price band for chicken should be announced, in coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry.