CEBU PRODUCERS BOOST PORK SUPPLY IN LUZON
CEBU CITY— Meat producers in Cebu have sent at least 1,600 prime live hogs to Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon since the start of October to augment the “dwindling” supply of the largest and most populous island in the country.
According to Virginia Farms Inc. president Rolando Tambago, he has received calls from his contacts in Luzon who wanted to buy prime live hogs and frozen meat due to a decline in the supply of pork in the region.
Tambago, who is also the immediate past president of the Central Visayas Pork Producers Cooperative, said the opportunity proved timely since Cebu currently has a huge surplus of both live hogs and meat since the market demand had slowed down due to the new coronavirus disease pandemic.
Supply deficit
“We see this as both beneficial to Luzon and Cebu, and we are willing to support Luzon with their shortage as long as we have enough here until the market in Cebu normalizes,” he said.
Virginia Farm Inc., the oldest and biggest integrated farm-to-fork swine business in Central Visayas, is operating a 360-hectare farm in the town of Asturias, Cebu.
In a statement, Tambago said that Cebu’s local pork consumption had decreased since March during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and had not returned to its normal level yet.
He said local players were expecting the demand to start improving by December.
In a recent press conference, Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock William Medrano made a forecast of a 45-day deficit on local pork supply at the end of the year in Luzon.
P11-billion industry
Cebu is the fourth largest pork producing province in the country with the local hog industry valued at P11 billion.
The farmers here produce 53,890 metric tons of pork annually.
Tambago reiterated the need of keeping Cebu free of the Asian swine fever (ASF).
“It is important that we protect Cebu, it being the remaining major producer of pork with no ASF cases in the country,” Tambago said.