After consultations with the departments of agriculture and trade and industry, food growers, manufacturers, and distributors, Roxas said a consensus was reached that there could be a shortage of three million heads of chicken for the third quarter this year.

The scenario of a chicken shortage this Christmas started with an excess importation in December last year, explained Roxas, chair of the Senate committee on trade and commerce. He said this excess spilled over to the first few months of this year.

Because of this, coupled with a low demand for chicken in the first half of this year, Roxas said the poultry industry did not load their chicken grow-out capacity, leading to a tight supply scenario in recent months.

Complicating the matter, however, is the disagreement between the DA and industry players on the importation of three million kilograms of chicken under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) quota system.

He said there are roughly 13 million in unused MAV quotas that may be used anytime, but importers may be waiting for a good price due to the supply shortage.

He noted that poultry industry representatives who attended the meeting -- the United Broiler Raisers’ Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators -- expressed reservations about the plan.