April 19, 2007

Philippines' Cebu province to export pork in Singapore
 

The Philippines will have its first pork exports courtesy of the province of Cebu which will ship its pork shipments to Singapore by June or July this year, an industry official said.

Albert Lim Jr., President of the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc., said in a press statement, that the Visayas region is also expected to go along with the province's export venture.

Lim said the volume of pork export from the Visayas will be supplemented by pork from Mindanao.

Lim said the declaration of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) that Visayas and Mindanao are free from foot-and-mouth disease spurred Singapore's confidence in the country's pork quality and drew the two countries into signing an export agreement.

Eduardo Lecciones, executive director of the Department of Agriculture Region 7 said Singapore sent people from its Agriculture and Veterinary Authority last year to inspect hog farms in the Visayas after it was certified that they are disease-free and safe.

The export of pork is in line with the government's bid to tap more foreign markets for Philippine agriculture products, to boost local production and bring more profit to farmers as well as generating additional employment.