The increasing demand of restaurants serving yakitori chicken in other countries outside of Japan will boost the shipments of poultry integrator San Miguel Foods Philippines Inc. (SMFI)-Poultry of the product by 50 per cent in 2012, an official of the company said.

“The increase in shipments will come from yakitori restaurants ordering our product. Japan will continue to be our major market but we are looking to expand shipments to other countries,” said Rita Imelda Palabyab, SMFI-Poultry vice president and general manager told Business Mirror.

She said the company is keen on tapping other countries in Asia and the Middle East for its yakitori chicken.

For the whole of 2011, Ms Palabyab disclosed that shipments of yakitori chicken could grow by around 75 per cent, year-on-year. SMFI, however, declined to provide the volume it exports to Japan and other countries.

Ms Palabyab said: "We are more competitive this year partly because of the impact of the earthquake in Japan which affected poultry supply there."

Japan, the SMFI executive noted, will continue to be the company's major market for yakitori chicken. The Japanese market accounts for 90 per cent of the company's shipments.

Figures from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed that the country's total yakitori exports to Japan reached 3,510 tonnes in 2010. This is 63 per cent more than the 2,150 tonnes of yakitori chicken the country exported in 2009.

SMFI-Poultry is considered as the country's top exporter of yakitori chicken to Japan. The government said the other local players in the yakitori chicken market include Reitoh Cold Storage Corp., Silangan Filtrade and Win-Win Inc.

SMFI-Poultry is a division of San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. Its operations include broiler breeding, hatching, growing, and processing using company-owned and contracted facilities.

On its web site, SMFI noted that its flagship brands Magnolia Chicken and Purefoods Supermanok lead the poultry market, being the brands of choice among major food service outlets as well as supermarkets and wet markets, reports Business Mirror.