Another 2,000 hogs arrive in Metro from Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines — Two thousand more live hogs from Mindanao arrived yesterday at Vitas Port, Pier 18, in Tondo, Manila as the government scrambled to increase pork supply and bring down prices in the capital.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar inspected the shipment from agribusiness company Biotech Farms, a South Cotabato-based supplier of high-quality pork and egg products in Mindanao.

The company is among the private firms that the Department of Agriculture (DA) is coordinating with for regular delivery of pork that will be sold to various Metro Manila public markets.

“We have monitored the situation since last week and the average daily volume of hogs that have reached Metro Manila is 4,560 heads, compared to what is being slaughtered at 4,000 hogs daily,” Dar said.

“We have seen many of the wet markets and the supermarkets have now adjusted their prices within the ceiling,” he added.

On Tuesday, hog shipments from different African swine fever (ASF)-free areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao reached a peak of 6,800 heads.

Malacañang welcomed the new deliveries, saying that the increased supply would make prices fall within the ceiling set by government.

“They will be distributed to different markets in Metro Manila. This is in line with the measures to solve the lack of pork supply in Metro Manila so that prices of pork will go down and will be within the price cap set by our government,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

The DA is coordinating with local government units to establish more Kadiwa outlets that sell low-priced pork, strengthen the Bantay ASF sa Barangay program and Bantay Presyo Task Force and implement massive hog repopulation in ASF-free and green zone areas.

It has also allocated P27 billion in loans to assist the hog industry and P600 million to help hog raisers in their repopulation efforts. The government has likewise coordinated with the US Department of Agriculture on the procurement of an ASF vaccine currently being clinically- and field-tested in Vietnam.