Marcos to meet with hog raisers on pork situation in Philippines

THE farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) President Rosendo So on Thursday said that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will meet with hog raisers to discuss the current pork situation in the country.

In a radio interview, So also questioned the statement of the Department of Agriculture (DA) on the supposed shortage of pork supply when the local pig raisers have yet to submit figures to the agency.

“I don’t know where the DA got its data as the request for a meeting with the stakeholders was only relayed to us,” So said.

During a Laging Handa briefing, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Livestock Research and Development Supervising Science Research Specialist Lani Plata Cerna said that there is a slight shortage in the pork supply in the last quarter.

She said the country is 95 percent sufficient compared to 121 percent sufficient in the third quarter.

“We have an oversupply of pork and the stocks can last up to March next year. That is why we are saying there will be no shortage this December,” So added.

So added that based on the latest inventory, there are 113 million kilos of imported frozen pork products in the various cold storage facilities.

“Last year, the inventory of frozen meat products was only 57 million kilos. This means the stock of imported frozen pork has doubled. The local pork production also increased, so there is no reason for the shortage,” So noted.

According to So, retail prices of pork remain high despite the flooding of imported frozen products.

“The live weight of pork is only pegged between P170 and P180, but the retail price of pork kasim is at P300 per kilo. Imported frozen pork products should be sold at P220 per kilo as importers bought them at P120 per kilo,” So noted.

So said that the retail prices of pork kasim should be P270 per kilo and P300 per kilo for pork liempo.

“The traders are taking advantage while the DA fails to address the issue. The low tariff on imported meat products did not help in bringing down the retail price of pork,” he added.

According to So, there are also a few areas in Luzon that are affected by African swine fever (ASF).

“We have the problem of ASF in Luzon last year, but it was already controlled. Our problem is in the Visayas. We stopped sourcing pork from there. We get additional pork from Mindanao,” So noted.

So also cited an incident where the piglets delivered by the DA in Ilocos Norte tested positive for ASF.

“The DA even delivered piglets in IIocos Norte that were contaminated with ASF. Luckily, the piglets were intercepted,” So added.

On the other hand, So said that the farmgate price of medium eggs only increased by 13 centavos per piece.

“The farmgate price of medium eggs is P6.50 per piece and the retail price should range from P7 to P7.50 while for large eggs, it should be between P7.50 and P7.80,” he said.