By SAMMY JULIAN
MANILA – After eight years of negotiations, the South Korean government has finally given its approval to the importation of processed chicken from the Philippines.
According to the Philippine Embassy in Seoul, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA) of Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) gave the final and formal consent that would allow two Philippine companies to start exporting processed chicken to South Korea.
Reacting to the announcement, Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez said this is a “considerable triumph” for the Philippine poultry industry and “a fitting result of years of hard work” by Philippine trade officials as this approval opens the door for more Philippine producers to Korea’s large fresh frozen chicken market.
The two firms are Johanna’s Chicken Processing Center, Inc., and Integrated Meat and Poultry Processing, Inc., based in the provinces of Quezon and Bataan, on Luzon Island. The two processing plants were operating as contract-processors of San Miguel Corporation and Bounty Fresh Food, Inc., two of the Philippines’ biggest producers.
The South Korean government’s approval of the first two processing plants augurs well for other Philippine companies interested to participate in the $300 million Korean market for processed chicken.
This approval follows the granting by the Korean Quarantine Inspection Agency in December 2013 of full market access to Bounty Fresh Food./PN
