Low demand so no pork shortage

MANILA, Philippines - There is enough supply of pork in the market despite lower production because fewer Filipinos can afford it, the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI) said.

Albert Lim of the NFHFI said that lack of demand is keeping pork supply stable despite the production shortfall in Luzon.

He said that even if demand increases in the coming weeks due to the seasonal holiday demand, supply is unlikely to drop significantly as there is enough live hog production in Mindanao, specifically in General Santos City, to satisfy any spike in demand.

But a gmanews.tv report said Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup said that prices may spike if some 15,000 tons of pork from other countries do not come in on time.

“If the imports do not come in we expect basic laws of supply and demand (to apply),” gmanews.tv quoted Salacup as saying in an interview on dwIZ radio.

But he declined to give figures on how high the prices may go, pointing out that price controls are still in effect over Luzon, gmanews.tv said.

The price controls will stay at least until the National Price Coordinating Council meets this coming Monday, the report said.

Lim said consumers in wet markets generally shun imported frozen pork products out of habit, preferring freshly slaughtered meat, poultry and fish products, which are later stored in freezers at home anyway.

Pork products from Mindanao, he said, are likely to be more expensive considering the high cost of transporting the live hogs to Luzon.

The cost of freight for live hogs, Lim said, is around P15 per kilo.

“NFHFI assures the consumers that pork will not disappear on the wet market table, but prices will be a bit higher,” Lim said.

“With some importations coming in plus local production, situation is manageable considering demand really isn’t going to balloon on account of the poor buying power and the effect of the typhoons and flooding,” Rene Eleria, also of the NFHFI said.

Lim said the NFHFI, way back in August, had already agreed with the Department of Agriculture to allow the importation of 5,000 metric tons of pork by the Food Terminal, Inc. for Minimum Access Volume (MAV) holders who could avail of the Tax Expenditure Subsidy. But two biddings set failed.

Lim said the lack of interest was due to the high prices of pork abroad.

The DA earlier assuaged fears of pork supply shortage.

In a statement, the DA has encouraged the private sector to bring in pork from Mindanao or from the 15,000 to 20,000 metric tons of pork available in foreign markets.

Salacup said that plans are being firmed up with suppliers from Mindanao to transport pork to Luzon in time for the Christmas season.

Salacup said some of the pork supply will come from the cities of General Santos, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga which will be packaged in boxes to cut the costs of transport.

The DA has been getting lukewarm response –even from some traders –to its “pork in the box” scheme.

Even before the onslaught of tropical storm “Ondoy,” the government had already projected a shortage of 30,000 to 40,000 metric tons.

Swine growers have initially attributed the supply deficit to industry problems like hog diseases.

They later projected a higher production shortfall following the devastation from four weather disturbances from Ondoy to “Santi.” The calamities caused P24-billion damage to the agriculture and fisheries sector.

But Salacup assured consumers that with the price ceilings on basic commodities like pork still in effect, the public can expect prices of much sought-after food items to remain stable during the holidays.

The DA, Salacup said, regularly monitors pork prices which have stayed at P160 to P170 a kilo in Metro Manila.

Salacup said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has instructed agriculture officials to work first on sourcing pork from Mindanao and Visayas, to ensure that supply will arrive in time for the Christmas season, and offset possible delays in importations.

Salacup said traders and importers have until Dec. 20 to bring in as much as 2.5 million kilos of pork. Agriculture officials have factored in farmgate prices in setting the deadline.

“We want our farmers to profit at this time to sustain their productivity momentum for the first quarter of 2010,” he said.

As for the supply of chicken, Salacup said that key players in the domestic poultry industry are studying the possibility of importing an additional 3,000 MT from the original 5,000 MT that they have proposed under the Special Safeguard (SSG) Measure scheme.

This SSG is meant to ensure that the cost of imported commodities will not be so low as to adversely affect domestic market prices and hurt local growers or producers.

Bong Inciong of the United Broilers and Raisers Association (UBRA) earlier told The STAR that there was really not much need for poultry importations citing the existence of huge stocks in cold storage. – Marianne V. Go