Philippines' pork inventory is projected to drop in the second quarter amid falling demand, said Davinio Catbagan, chief veterinary officer of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) on Wednesday (Mar 24).
"Currently, we have a cold store inventory of four to five million kilogrammes of pork. However, even if the low demand cited by the BAI were accurate, we are still preparing for the possible gap in the supply," Catbagan explained.
The average farmgate price for pork stands at PHP113 (US$2.48), which is slightly higher than the regular farmgate price of PHP106 (US$2.33) or even lower. The retail price for pork is in the range of PHP165-180 (US$3.62-3.95).
The low pork supply is due to the series of typhoons last year and the recent disease outbreak. To bridge the supply gap, the Philippines mainly imports pork from Canada, according to Catbagan.
"It really depends on the demand, but while the demand is low, there is still an expected shortfall," the official said. "However, people now are not really buying pork, most particularly when it reached PHP190 (US$4.17) or even PHP200 (US$4.39)."
The country would suffer a shortfall of between five and 10 million kilogrammes of pork until June this year.
