Hog deliveries in Metro Manila breach 100,000

MANILA, Philippines — Over 100,000 hogs have been delivered to Metro Manila in three weeks in line with the government’s effort to augment supply and stabilize pork prices in the market.

Data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) showed that a total of 101,133 heads of hogs and 657,994 kilos of carcasses were delivered to the National Capital Region by local hog raisers from Feb. 8 to March 1.

Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) supplied the largest number of live hogs, accounting for 50.21 percent of total deliveries.

This was followed by Western Visayas with 13.42 percent and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) with 10.12 percent.

In addition, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos) contributed nine percent.

Central Luzon accounted for 6.94 percent of the total hog deliveries.

Hog shipments were also made from other regions such as Bicol, Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas, Ilocos, Northern Mindanao and Zamboanga peninsula.

Central Luzon shipped the largest volume of carcasses, accounting for 95.29 percent, followed by the Bicol region with 3.45 percent and Zamboanga peninsula with 1.19 percent.

The DA earlier said it was looking to deliver to Metro Manila at least 15,000 hogs per week for two months to stabilize pork prices in the market.

The Philippine swine industry, which is worth about P200 billion a year, has been hit by African swine fever since 2019, recording 173 new outbreaks and an additional 84,064 hogs culled.

Memorandum Order 14 issued by Agriculture Secretary William Dar provides implementing guidelines for the procurement of hogs from Feb. 8 to Apr. 8.

Dar said hogs would be directly sourced from eligible local producers through negotiated procurement and supervised by the DA regional field offices.

The government has imposed a 60-day price ceiling of P270 for kasim or pork shoulder, P300 for liempo or pork belly and P160 per kilo for chicken in Metro Manila markets.

On Monday, prevailing price of kasim in Metro Manila markets registered at P300 per kilo, while prevailing price of liempo amounted to P340 per kilo.

Last week, Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Noel Reyes said the DA is open to raising the price ceiling of pork to around P310 to P340 per kilo.

Minimal impact

Meanwhile, the temporary ban on the importation of poultry products from Russia is not expected to significantly affect the local industry, given its low volume.

“Not much effect as trade never took off in sufficient volumes,” Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) president Jess Cham told The STAR in a mobile message.

Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed a total of 28,000 kilos of chicken meat had been imported into the country as of January.

This is only a minimal portion of the total 16.9-million imported chicken meat.

Dar has issued a temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from the Russian Federation.

This was in response to the reported ongoing outbreaks of H5N8 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in several areas in Russia.

It aims to prevent the entry of the HPAI virus and protect the health of the public and the local poultry population.

The memorandum also sought for the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance of the products.

The DA also imposed the stoppage and confiscation of all shipments of the commodities with the exemption of heat-treated products, provided it would undergo risk analysis to be performed by the BAI.