Philippines lean on pork as chicken price increase

The Philippine government is projecting a shortfall in pork in the second quarter, even as poultry supply is seen to remain ample.

Davinio Catbagan, chief veterinary officer of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), said that the country would suffer a shortfall of between 5 million and 10 million kilogrammes of port until June. This is despite the traditionally low demand for pork in the second quarter of the year.

"At present, we have a cold store inventory of four to 5 million kilogrammes of pork. However, even if the low demand cited by the Bureau of Animal Statistics were accurate we are still preparing for the possible gap in the supply," Catbagan said.

The farm gate price for pork stands at PHP113 on the average, which the official said is stable from two months ago. However, this average price is still on the high side given the regular farm gate price of PHP106 or even lower. The retail price for pork is PHP165-180.

Catbagan blamed the lean supply of pork on the series of typhoons last year and the recent disease outbreak. To bridge the supply gap, the Philippines mainly imports pork from Canada, the official said.

He also said the country has an average inventory of 7,000 tonnes of chicken, of which about 5,000 tonnes are imported. He said the country has a surplus of 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes.