November 24, 2011

Philippines eyes pork exports to South Korea

The Philippines is now seeking pork shipments to Seoul after successfully trading poultry exports to South Korea starting in the first quarter of 2012.

Agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala said the Department of Agriculture wants the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture to send another team of quarantine officials to evaluate the quality of Philippine pork.

Alcala said the country has already been seeking access to Korea’s fresh meat market even before the Philippines was accredited as a foot-and-mouth disease -free country without vaccination. The Agriculture Department also gave South Korea the green light to export paprika or ground bell peppers to the Philippine in the first quarter of 2012.  

With the plan to sell meat and poultry products overseas, the Philippine government has made sure that investments to upgrade abattoirs in place for Triple A classification. The Philippines is also eyeing to sell pork to Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East - with overseas Filipino workers as the primary market. The Ebola virus outbreak in several farms in Pandi, Bulacan in 2009 spoiled the country's first bid to export 50,000 metric tons of pork to Singapore. The day that the Matutum Meat Packing Corp. was to make an inaugural shipment of pork and pork products to Singapore, the Agriculture and Health Departments issued statements confirming the presence of the virus in the country.