September 20, 2010

A consumer shift from pork to chicken has brought down prices of pork by as much as PHP20 (US$0.45)/kilo in the Philippines.

According to Agriculture assistant secretary Salvador Salacup said pork prices are "down" to PHP160 (US$3.62) to PHP170 (US$3.84) a kilo from PHP180 (US$4.07) to PHP190 (US$4.29) due to consumer shifting.

He noted a close shifting pattern between pork and chicken, where Filipinos tend to shift to pork when chicken prices are high, and vice-versa.

He said that the price of one commodity goes up, consumers shift to the other.

Since chicken prices are lower for now, Salacup said consumers tend to favour chicken so pork sales are low and vendors are forced to bring prices down.

In the meantime, he said the Department of Agriculture will continue to monitor prices of the two commodities as the Christmas season approaches.

Demand for the two commodities traditionally goes up during the holidays.