March 2, 2004

 

 

Philippines Pig Industry Hit By High Feed Costs

 

The pig industry in Philippines Mindanao is feeling the effects of high corn prices and weak peso.

 

Prices have more than doubled since January but Teresita Pascual, president of the Davao Hog Industry Cooperative, said that they just have to suck it in and hope things will become better since it would be more costly to cut their production volume.

 

"In commercial raising you can't go down to what your facilities can maintain, if you go down you will be incurring more cost," she said.

 

She pointed to the very high price of corn currently pegged at P11 per kilo from a low of P5.50 during the first half of last year as the major reason for the high cost of production.

 

"Corn makes up 55-60 per cent or more than half of the total feeds component for the pigs," she said.

 

Another factor is the increase in the price of soy beans and chemical-based additives like amino acids and lycene because they are sourced from abroad.

 

"Soybeans make up 30-35 per cent of the feeds and they are not sourced locally, we order them from Argentina, India and very recently from the US," she said.

 

The price of imported soybeans, she added, has increased from P12 a kilo to P22.00 a kilo while a bottle of amino acid is now priced at P250 from the previous P130.

 

"The reason behind that is the peso has depreciated, so their prices increased," she said.

 

She said this might even result to lower volume in production, although the figures may vary from farm to farm, because some raisers can't afford to buy the necessary supplements to maximize their production of pigs.

 

But she said Mindanao is still better off compared to other regions because it can still source corn from adjacent areas to augment its needs.

 

"We also have a low disease level so our assessment now is that there's still lots of pigs in Mindanao," she said.

 

Because of the increase in buying price, however, the farm gate price for live pigs has also ballooned to P82 (US$1.45) per kilo from P55-70 last year.

 

"I can imagine it would be much higher in the wet markets," she said.

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has announced that it has instituted some mechanisms to arrest the rising price of corn in the market.

 

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said they are importing 350,000 metric tons of corn in the first six months of this year to augment local supply.

 

The DA reported of a shortage in yellow corn supply of about 575,171 metric tons until June of this year.

 

But Lorenzo quickly added that the supply of corn will soon stabilize because Isabela farmers are expected to harvest 500,000 metric tons before the end of March.