"Farmgate prices of chicken have started to go down, ranging from P67 to P71 a kilo, because there are many suppliers in the market. There will be growth [in terms of volume] because the breeders are already in place," United Broiler Raisers' Association chair Gregorio San Diego explained.

Despite the growth, San Diego said industry players were losing money because they could not raise chicken prices enough to recover the increase in the cost of inputs such as corn for animal feed.

Feeds account for about 65 percent of a raiser's total production cost.

San Diego said a raiser's production costs are around P65 to P68 a kilo, just a little below the farmgate prices of chicken.

San Diego said that ideally, farmgate prices "should not go below P70 a kilo--that's our threshold."

Bureau of Animal Industry Director Davinio Catbagan said there was a need to explore alternative sources of feeds to provide raisers some relief from spiraling production costs.

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