November 6, 2009

The Philippine government expects to have a total of 7,000 tonnes of imported pork in stock by the first week of December as the country faces pressure of a pork shortage.

 

The government also expects to import 8,000 tonnes of poultry meat up to Christmas week, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official said on Thursday (Nov 5).

 

DA assistant secretary Salvador S. Salacup said that according to the latest report, pork in transit is about 5,000 tonnes which will arrive in the first week of December.

 

Salacup added that about 2,000 tonnes of pork imports have already arrived in the country so far.

 

However, the total is lower than the DA's estimated 20,000 tonnes supply shortfall for pork, due to diseases that have hit the industry from the past two years and damage from the two storms that struck Luzon hard in September to October.

 

Salacup expects the 8,000 tonnes of chicken will be available before the holidays, and is looking at a price level of PHP130 per kilogramme.

 

The government approved an additional 5,000 tonnes of poultry meat imports last month in a bid to plug a supply gap of the same volume.

 

However, typhoon Santi hit the poultry-producing provinces in Region IV-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Quezon and Rizal) last week, affecting poultry production, prompting the private sector to ask for another 3,000 tonnes of poultry imports.

 

To add to Luzon's supply pressures, the leader of a swine producers group in Central Mindanao admitted on Thursday (Nov 5) that his sector will find it hard to supply pork products to Luzon.

 

Central Mindanao, also known as Region XII or Soccsksargen, is composed of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kuradrat, Sarangani and General Santos City.

 

This region accounts for almost a tenth of Philippine commercial hog production, data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics show.

 

South Cotabato Swine Producers Association president Emilio V. Escobillo, Jr. said hog production in the region has not expanded enough to meet the sudden tightening of pork meat supply in Luzon in the wake of recent storms.

 

Escobillo noted that the pork shortage now facing Luzon was partly caused by the slaughter of hogs in Luzon farms last year due to the Ebola Reston outbreak.

 

This developed as retail prices of pork meat in this city, the capital of Central Mindanao, increased starting this week by a range of PHP10-PHP15 per kilogramme in the wet markets.

 

Escobillo noted that farmgate prices of live pigs from farms in South Cotabato that are shipped through the port of General Santos City now range from PHP93-PHP94 per kilogramme, against PHP110-PHP114 per kilogramme in Metro Manila.

 

He projected that farmgate price of live hogs in General Santos and neighboring areas would soon breach PHP100 per kilogramme, due to tightening of supplies.

 

US$1 = PHP47.48 (Nov 6)