February 8, 2021

Philippines imposes price ceiling on pork, chicken products

The Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) has released a copy of a new executive order imposing a price ceiling on pork and chicken products in the country's National Capital Region (NCR) .

The price ceiling is effective for 60 days.

As stated in the executive order, the mandated price ceiling for kasim/pigue is at PHP270 (US$5.62) per kilo, liempo at PHP300 (US$6.24) per kilo and dressed chicken at PHP160 (US$3.33) per kilo.

The current retail prices of basic necessities, such as pork and chicken, in the NCR have increased significantly due to the threat of COVID-19. The supply of pork and pork products in Metro Manila also declined due to the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak.

The Office of the Executive Secretary has reassured the public saying that the price ceiling will not result in the undue diminution of meat traders' expected income considering as the reduction rates are not greater than 25% of the prevailing market price. The break-even point for selling pork is only around PHP105 (US$2.19).

Additionally, the DA also proposed increasing its minimum access volume of its meat import allocation from 54,000 tonnes to 162,000 tonnes.

- Philippine News Agency