The Department of Agriculture (DA) banned temporarily the entry of poultry products from Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania in the United States, but has lifted the ban on the import of domestic and wild birds, as well as poultry products from France.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. issued separate memorandum orders on the measures, which cover poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.
Under Memorandum Order No. 13 series of 2025 signed on March 4, the DA secretary ordered the lifting of the import ban on France after French veterinary authorities reported to the World Organization for Animal Health that all reported cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in their country have ended with resolved status, with no additional outbreaks after Feb. 4, 2025.
The DA said the lifting of the ban is expected to support the local poultry industry, but emphasized the continued monitoring of all incoming shipments with strict quarantine protocols to ensure the country’s biosecurity remains uncompromised.
Meanwhile, Memorandum Order No. 14 series of 2025 also signed by Tiu Laurel on March 4 said poultry products from the three US states are temporarily banned after the American deputy administrator and chief veterinary officer of the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported several outbreaks of H5N1 HPAI as of Feb. 20, 2025.
The US National Veterinary Services Laboratories also confirmed the cases affected domestic birds, DA added.
Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) sdhowed the Philippines imported 472.21 million kg of chicken meat for the entire 2024.
BAI’s data also showed that for the period, the Philippines bought 158.16 million kg of chicken from the US, or 12.3 percent of the country’s total chicken imports.
No data is available on the volume that came from the three particular US states.
On the other hand, France provided 441,663 kg of chicken to the Philippines, equivalent to 0.09 percent of all chicken meat that entered the country last year.
DA’s monitoring of public markets as of Wednesday showed the prevailing retail prices of whole dressed chicken range between P190 and P240 per kg.
