November 23, 2009
Philippine government mulls price band for chicken, pork
The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) is considering suggested retail prices (SRP) for chicken and pork in the holiday season.
The SRP aims to prevent price spikes in Manila in the face of a possible tight supply during the holidays.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador S. Salacup said in a statement that DA is looking at "a plan to release SRP ranges for pork and chicken, in which a price band would be observed for both commodities to prevent a spike in their retail prices."
Renato R. Eleria, chairman of the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc suggested a price below P180 (US$3.83) per kilogramme as consumers will not buy pork higher than that price. Prime pork cuts like pigue, kasim and liempo are now sold in Metro Manila wet markets at P150 (US$3.19) to P190 (US$4.04)/kg, data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) show.
An industry official for the chicken sector reveals that "ideally, chicken prices should be cut back to P120-P130/kg" from the current P130-P150/kg in Metro Manila markets".
The arrival of 9,500 tonnes of pork from Canada are already on the way and the arrival of the supply of pork from the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga, which consists of about 3,000 heads, is expected in the last week of November and in December, Salacup said.
US$1 = PHP46.95 (Nov 23)
