April 6, 2004
Philippine Meat Processors To Buy More Local Pork
Meat processors in the Philippines have agreed to increase their purchase of pork from local producers in a bid to smoothen relations between the two groups.
Felix O. Tiukinhoy Jr., president of the 34-company Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI), said his group intends to raise the procurement of pork from a faction of the National Federation of Hog Farmers led by Gabriel Uy to 10,000 animal heads monthly.
Tiukinhoy, an executive of Virginia Foods, Inc., noted that at present the meat processors already buy some 300 animal heads weekly or a total of 1,200 heads monthly from the hog raisers.
The partnership between the two groups began in October 2003 when the Uy-led faction agreed to supply manufacturing grade cuts for use of the meat processors.
"Several PAMPI members became beneficiaries of this supply of pig meat, and we encourage all to look into this potential source of raw material," Tiukinhoy said.
However, another faction of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. led by Albert Lim was criticizing the meat processors for resorting to importation of carabeef instead of buying from Filipino hog raisers.
In response, the meat processors claimed that the high prices of local pork prevent them from sourcing their raw materials from the local market.
"If PAMPI members get all their supplies from local hog raisers, how much could they sell their hotdogs, corned beef and other processed meat," Francisco J. Buencamino, executive director of PAMPI, asked.
"Why should we, when pork prices have skyrocketed and continue to run away at P140 to P160 a kilo now for the past six to eight weeks," he added.
Buencamino also criticized the Department of Agriculture (DA) for not consulting the meat processors regarding the planned zero-tariff importation of pork to tame the towering meat prices.
The DA had earlier allowed the importation of 5 million to 10 million kilos of pork tariff-free, which PAMPI said may not be enough to fill the domestic requirement.
Buencamino said the idea of importing first 5 million kilos of pork and another 5 million kilos in case the supply remains inadequate was just for show.
He noted that DA officials decided to apportion the import volume as follows: 60 percent to hog raisers and 40 percent to be shared equally by PAMPI and meat traders and importers.
"Just like before, PAMPI was never asked for inputs on how the importation should be divided but was only told about the allocations," he said.
"The fact that the bulk or 60 percent was allocated to the hog raisers - who are resorting to every means to delay such importation or to disallow it competes directly with their farm outputs - is already a farce," Buencamino said.
While insisting that the country has enough pork supply, Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. attributed the high prices of meat to five factors, the first of which was the sudden shift in demand to pork from chicken amid the bird flu virus scare.
Lorenzo said importers were also not able to utilize the minimum access volume (MAV) allocation of 53,000 metric tons annually because of high prices in the international market. He also blamed the high prices of corn.
The agriculture chief said that with the country's success in curbing smuggling of pork and preventing the direct sale of Indian carabeef in the wet market, pork prices went up this year.
Lorenzo predicted that the supply of fatteners would go up by 26 percent from 2,965,810 heads in the first quarter of the year to 3,747,780 heads in the second quarter.
He said that together with the improving consumption of chicken, the increase in supply of pork would ease the high prices in the coming days.
For his part, Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture, challenged the meat processors to build a strong relationship with the hog raisers.
"We must look at our country as the best source of raw materials," Magsaysay told the meat processors.
