Swift Foods, Inc. has approved the suspension of its broiler, or chicken-growing, operations in Palawan after the business posted continued losses and the company raised concerns about the possible impact of El Niño.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, the listed poultry company said its board of directors approved the suspension because the Palawan operations had recorded negative results in recent months. “The board of directors resolved to suspend the corporation’s broiler operations or its chicken-growing operations in Palawan due to continued negative results in the previous months, alongside with the possible occurrence of El Niño,” Swift Foods said.

The company said its dressing plant operations would continue as usual despite the suspension of chicken-growing activities. It added that the move would not have a material impact on its overall business operations. Dressing plants slaughter and process poultry into dressed chicken for market, meaning the Palawan growing pause does not idle the company’s processing and distribution lines.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said on Oct. 21 that a strong to very strong El Niño was already present in the tropical Pacific and was expected to persist until the first quarter of 2027. The weather phenomenon increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall, raising the risk of dry spells and drought in parts of the Philippines. Prolonged dry spells can strain water supplies and harvests of feed grains such as corn — inputs on which poultry raising, and the commercial feed production Swift Foods also undertakes, both rely.

Swift Foods did not disclose the losses incurred by its Palawan broiler operations and did not provide a timeline for their resumption, leaving unclear how large the affected unit is within the company and when, or whether, growing there might restart. Any financial effect of the suspension would surface in its future reporting periods.

The company recorded a net loss of P3.35 million in the first half of 2026, wider than the P2.35-million loss reported for the same period a year earlier. Gross revenue fell by 36.6% to P10.29 million from P16.24 million, according to its financial statements.

For 2025, Swift Foods reported a net loss of P8.47 million, reversing a P51.25-million net income in 2024 — a swing of nearly P60 million from profit to loss in a single year.

Incorporated in June 1994, Swift Foods produces and distributes poultry products and commercial feeds.

Shares in Swift Foods closed unchanged at 4.9 centavos apiece at the local bourse on Wednesday.

— Ashley Erika O. Jose

Source: Bworldonline