June 3, 2008

Beef and pork prices in the Philippines set to rise further

Beef and pork prices in the Philippines, which have are risen sharply this year, are set to rise further due to rising oil prices, increasing freight costs and a weakening peso, an importers group told The Manila Times newspaper on Saturday (May 31, 2008). 

Mr Jun Lim, vice-president of the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines, told the paper 90 percent of the country's beef supply is imported, mostly from Brazil .

The price of imported beef in January was US$2.65 (S$3,61) a kilo, and in May it has risen to US$4.50 a kilogramme. Pork was US$1.90 a kilogramme in January and US$2.50 in May, the paper said.

'For now, the price of chicken is stable, because most of the supply is produced locally,' Mr Lim told the paper.

The market has not felt the impact of higher prices as yet as a lot of what is being sold in the market today are meats that came in two to three months ago and were in storage, he said.

On Friday, the government said it is to give the poor subsidies worth up to 93.6 billion pesos (about US$2.14 billion) to help them curb with rising prices.