GMA meets dealers to avert meat price increase

Although she was sick, President Arroyo met with meat and hog dealers and averted their plans to stop the supply of pork to Metro Manila markets until the government intervenes to stabilize the farm-gate prices of pork for a set period of time.

The President was scheduled to speak before an international business conference in Hong Kong, but canceled her trip "on doctor’s advice," Press Secretary Milton Alingod said.

The President and Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. met with the officials and members of the Meat and Hog Dealers Association of the Philippines (MHDAP) yesterday afternoon.

The Department of Agriculture has assured the public that a threat by traders to impose a "pig holiday" throughout Metro Manila today will fizzle out, as the DA’s livestock officials and other key players in the meat supply chain will help ensure that meat, particularly pork, will remain available to consumers at reasonable prices.

"We are on top of the situation. We will eventually get through this and everything will fall in place," Lorenzo said.

The DA held an emergency meeting with hog groups, meat dealers, slaughterhouse operators and other meat and livestock industry leaders to assess reports that the pig holiday had already begun in selected public markets in the metropolis.

The holiday - which aimed to stop the slaughter, distribution and sale of pork to the public in an effort to dramatize rising farm-gate prices for hogs — is backed by sympathizers of the MHDAP under Dennis Alcoreza.

In the meeting, various participants assured the DA that they will voluntarily set a moratorium on further hog price increases at the farm level, setting the farm-gate price to its pre-Christmas holiday level of P80 per kilo.

BAI data shows that the live weight prices of hogs at farm gate is P81.33 a kilo while the dressed weight is P100.90 a kilo. At an average retail price of P127.67 a kilo, the meat vendors are able to realize gross trading margins of P46.34 a kilo.

Continuity Of Supply

To counteract the pig holiday, the DA directed the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) to urge slaughterhouses to remain open for business as usual.

The Metro Manila chapter of the Slaughterhouse Operators Association of the Philippines (SOAP) under Carol Cunanan and composed of 24 abattoirs that slaughter 7,000 pigs daily, agreed not to participate in the protest action.

Lorenzo pointed out that while the Vitas abattoir in Tondo, Manila — which is operated by Alcoreza — may close shop for the holiday, hog dealers or "viajeros" looking for alternative slaughterhouses can avail themselves of the Marulas slaughterhouse in Valenzuela City, which will remain open.

He said the DA will also tap other swine groups and big hog firms not supportive of the pig holiday, like the Philippine Association of Hog Raisers Inc. and Monterey Foods to fill in any pork supply disruption.

Lorenzo also appealed to consumers not to panic with the threat of meat vendors to stage a "pig holiday," claiming there is an adequate supply of substitute sources of protein such as fish, chicken, and beef. – Marichu Villanueva, Rocel Felix