September 24, 2004

 

 

Philippines Pampro Aims For Reduced Pork Imports

 

Members of the Pampanga Meat Processors (Pampro) in Philippines are confident that their importation of pork would be significantly reduced with the group's tapping of regional meat suppliers.

 

Renato "Abong" Tayag, Jr., of local meat processor Mother Earth, said Davao hog-raisers have agreed to supply five percent to 10 percent of Pampro's pork requirement.

 

Early morning Thursday, Tayag said the second shipment of pork from the Davao group arrived in the province.

 

It was part of the 15-ton per week supply that the Davao suppliers vowed to ship for Pampro.

 

Tayag said the pact was sealed recently when Davao suppliers offered the Pampro "locked-in" pork price of P129 for every kilo. Imported pork, usually from Korea and Canada, are priced at P125 per kilo.

 

Tayag explained that "locked-in" meant the P129 per kilo price will be constant at least until year-end, even with the expected rise in prices of commodities in the last quarter of the year, or near the Holiday Season.

 

This was apparently one of the reasons why Pampro welcomed Davao's offer.

 

Although the Davao group's price tag is a bit higher than the import price, Pampro took advantage of the offer since they would not have to consider storage cost apart from the actual price per kilo of imported meat.

 

"The bottom line is, there would be a steady supply of meat byproducts in the market at a stable price," Tayag added.

 

The first delivery of pork from the Davao suppliers arrived last week.

 

Tayag said Pampro is now looking for other provinces, such as Bukidnon, Cotabato and General Santos, that could augment the supply of pork for the local meat processors. "Our target is to eliminate importation," he said.

 

He said the Pampro-Davao group's agreement was the first of its kind in the meat-processing industry.