Department of Agriculture mulls pork, chicken price band

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is setting a price band for pork and chicken for the upcoming holiday season to prevent a spike in retail prices. 

According to Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup, the DA is planning to release suggested retail price ranges for pork and chicken for the holiday season.

Actually, Salacup said, the DA had previously implemented the same scheme by suggesting a reference price for pork before the onset of the Christmas season last year — when retail prices shot up to as high as P180 to P190 per kilo of choice cuts.

Retail prices eventually stabilized at P145 to P170 per kilo.

To ensure stable supply of pork and chicken for the holidays, Salacup said,  a discussion in Davao with pork stakeholders was recently held whereby it was agreed that pork from Mindanao would be transported to Manila.

Likewise, it was also agreed to import anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 metric tons (MT) of pork and 5,000 MT of chicken from overseas markets like the US, Canada and South Korea.

“The arrival of the supply of pork from the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga in Mindanao, which consists of about 3,000 head, is expected in the last week of November and in December,” Salacup said.

He added that “we also expect the arrival of 9,500 MT of pork from Canada, USA and South Korea.”

“We are continuously monitoring supply and prices in the market,” he assured.

The latest monitoring report by DA field teams show that the price of pork kasim is between P150 and P180 a kilo and liempo at P160 to P190 a kilo, Salacup said.

As for chicken, Salacup said poultry producers said they will bring in 5,000 metric tons from the US and Canada to augment domestic supply.

In October last year, the DA, along with over 30 livestock stakeholders agreed on a reference price band for pork after reaching consensus on the reasonable profit margins for growers, wholesalers and retailers.

The reference pric was agreed upon after determining that it was beneficial for producers, traders, and consumers.

Salacup said that considering hog producers have already warned of a possible supply shortfall even before the onset of the typhoons, the DA had already encouraged the private sector to import up to 15,000 MT of pork from foreign sources such as the United States, Canada and neighboring Asian countries. 

Even before typhoon Ondoy battered Luzon, the government already projected a shortage of 30,000 MT to 40,000 MT, though on producers’ appeals, it agreed on a 20,000-ton projected supply gap, Salacup said.