The government plans to ship local chicken to China and Viet Nam after reports said a new strain of bird flu virus were affecting the poultry industries in those countries, an official said, reports Manila Standard Today.

At the opening of the Food and Drinks Asia 2011 exhibition at the World Trade Center, Agriculture Assistant Secretary, Salvador Salacup, said: "We are now 93 per cent self-sufficient in poultry production.

"We can tap China and Viet Nam as possible markets for our exportable chicken since they cannot rely on their own production anymore."

San Miguel Corp., the Philippines' leading poultry producer, has been exporting chicken yakitori to Japan for eight years. It expects a 27 per cent increase in its export output this year as Japan is yet to rebuild its food industry, which was destroyed by the tsunami in March.

The Agriculture Department says the Philippines does not import chicken from either China or Viet Nam. The Philippine government's ban on Vietnamese poultry stays.

Mr Salacup continued: "Our country remains free from the dreaded bird flu virus.

"We don't want to compromise our industry and the safety of our people by allowing the entry of bird flu-infected chicken. The Philippines is the only country in Asia where the neighbouring nations may safely import their chicken requirements."

Manila Standard Today adds that earlier, the Food and Agriculture Organization urged heightened readiness for a possible resurgence of the H5N1 influenza amid signs a mutant strain is spreading in Asia and in other territories.

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