October 12, 2023
Philippines mulls importing pork to mitigate shortfall in Q4 2023
The Philippines will likely import pork in time for the Christmas season but industry stakeholders said the country still has a sufficient supply of pork.
Philippines Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said on October 10 that the Department of Agriculture (DA) is considering importation to cover the projected shortfall in the fourth quarter of this year.
De Mesa, another DA spokesperson, said the country had a supply surplus of 10 days in the third quarter but it might need to source additional pork from abroad to meet the expected increase in demand during the holiday season.
"Our pork supply is a little tight. We expect a 10-day deficit in our local supply by the end of fourth quarter," de Mesa said. "There might be a need to import during the last quarter when the demand for pork is really strong based on historical data."
But agricultural group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura said the Philippines has enough stockpile of pork as evidenced by the huge volume of pork stocks in cold storage facilities nationwide, and the decline of farm-gate prices of live hogs.
According to the National Meat Inspection Service, the inventory of frozen pork in accredited cold storage facilities stood at 87,338.57 metric tonnes as of September 18, up by 2.02% from 85,606.60 metric tonnes in the same period a year ago.
However, this was 16.9% lower than 105,054.41 metric tonnes recorded the previous week.
De Mesa said there was "a need to balance our local production" with importation to stabilise retail prices and meet the Philippines' pork requirement as the hog sector is contending with different issues such as the prevalence of African swine fever.
De Mesa added that the DA was studying whether to impose a suggested retail price (SRP) on pork products.
"We can look into it if we observe price manipulation. But as of now, we don't see the need to implement an [SRP]," he said.
- Inquirer
