April 30, 2024

 

Drop in Philippine frozen pork inventory as deliveries from importers decline

 

 

The Philippines' frozen pork inventory fell as deliveries from importers and local hog raisers shrank, according to the latest data from an attached agency of the country's Department of Agriculture (DA).

 

Figures from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) showed that pork in cold storage facilities nationwide as of April 15 slid by 13.5% to 51,929.04 metric tons (MT) from last year's 60,060.89MT. The latest pork inventory consisted mostly of imports which dropped by 10% to 51176.09MT from the previous year's 56,946.74MT.

 

Pork from local producers plunged by 75% to 752.95MT, from the 3,114.15MT recorded on April 17, 2023.

 

On a monthly basis, the latest figure was also lower by more than 13,600MT from the 65,582.05MT recorded on March 18.

 

The Philippines continues to import pork to strengthen its supply as African swine fever (ASF) leads to lower local hog production.

 

From nearly 2.3 million metric tons (MMT) of hogs produced in 2019 — when ASF was first detected in the Philippines — output plunged to 1.696MMT in 2021, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) .

 

Hog production registered improvements in 2022 and 2023 when it reached 1.737MMT and 1.793MMT, respectively. The figures, however, are still lower than the 2019 volume.

 

The Philippines had to lower tariffs on pork in its bid to ensure a stable supply.

 

Aside from the United States and Germany, the country bought imported pork from Spain, which increased its exports to the Philippines by 50% last year, according to Euro Pork.

 

"We are optimistic that it is going to grow this year as Spain is now a major supplier of pork in the Philippines," Andrea Gonzalez, representative of Euro Pork in the Philippines, told the BusinessMirror in an interview on the sidelines of a recent meat tasting event held at the Bonifacio Global City.

 

Gonzales added that Portugal is keen on exporting meat products to the Philippines and that EU Pork is now working on making this happen.

 

NMIS said its latest frozen pork inventory came from accredited commercial and in-house cold storage facilities including slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.

 

Regions 3, 4-A and the National Capital Region (NCR) accounted for a chunk of the frozen pork inventory during the period.

- BusinessMirror