December 30, 2020

Philippines' pork and chicken supply sufficient for holiday

The Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) assured the public that there would be enough poultry and pork products until year end and into the first quarter of 2021, despite the seasonal hike in the demand for meat during the holidays.

The DA said in a recent statement that there are more than 213,500 hogs that were shipped to Metro Manila from Visayas and Mindanao since May, and more are expected to be shipped to augment any shortfall in Luzon due to the impact of African swine fever (ASF).

DA secretary William Dar directed the agency's regional directors in Visayas and Mindanao to coordinate with swine growers so they could facilitate the transport of hogs to Metro Manila to ease tightening supply and rising prices of pork in the area due to the enforcement of quarantine and lockdown measures, and incidence of ASF in Luzon.

For poultry, there is more than enough inventory due to the current oversupply from the closure of food establishments during the height of the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

"Due to the ASF, the country's pork inventory has suffered at an alarming level, and the move to ship hogs from Visayas and Mindanao was a pre-emptive measure to arrest the worsening pork supply shortfall and rising prices in Metro Manila," Dar said.

Agriculture undersecretary William Medrano said 67% of the total shipments of hogs delivered to Metro came from the Soccskargen and Western Visayas regions.

An additional supply of pork is expected to come from General Santos City, where hog raisers have reportedly been preparing to increase their shipments to Metro Manila and other major markets in Luzon to meet the target shipments of 15,000 to 20,000 heads of hogs monthly.

The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) said there are 32,724 tonnes of pork and 43,345 tonnes of poultry in inventory.

Medrano noted that, even with the COVID-19 pandemic and ASF, the DA and NMIS data reported the Philippines' total meat volume slightly increased compared to 2019 levels.

 - Inquirer.Net