Piñol sees pork prices stabilizing in 2 months

More stable prices of pork can be expected in the next few months as the Department of Agriculture (DA) prepares for the entry of approximately 5.5 million kilograms of pork.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said 22 private firms have already applied for import permits. the DA is allowing 250 metric tons or 250,000 kilos of pork imports per company.

“Hopefully, prices will stabilize with the expected entry of pork. We also set a limit of until September (for the arrival) because we don’t want to affect the local production,” Piñol said in a chance interview.

“Probably, in two months time, prices will stabilize,” he said.

Last month, the DA allowed the private sector to import approximately seven million kilos of pork through the minimum access volume (MAV) following the continued tight supply.

But importers did not immediately apply because of the spike in prices in the world market, as well as tightness in the global supply as China alone needs to import close to three billion kilos of pork.

Supply of pork is tight due to the continuing decline in the number of backyard farmers over the past few years which has resulted in the significantly higher suggested retail price of the commodity in the local market.

At the current farm gate price, retail price should only be P195 per kilo, but it is now reaching as high as P250 per kilo.

The difference of the farm gate price of live weight hog to retail price of pork should only be P60 per kilo. This should cover transport, handling, storage, marketing and profit margins. Instead, it is now reaching P80 to P100 per kilo.