Pork Prices to Go Up Due to Shortage

MANILA - Pork prices in Metro Manila may come up to as much as P220 a kilo in next month because of reduced supply in Luzon.
calendar icon 5 June 2008
clock icon 2 minute read

According to the Inquirer, pork currently sells for around P170 a kilo in public markets. But with a drop in supply by as much as 15 percent, the price may reach P180-P220 a kilo in July, federation vice chairman Renato Eleria said.

Eleria the main cause of the decrease in supply was swine diseases that hit backyard hog farms in Luzon last year.

“These diseases nearly wiped out Bulacan backyard hog raisers last year, and these farms have yet to recover,“ she said. “In Batangas, some hog raisers are reeling from a lack in financing and some small feed millers had to close shop.“

Last year’s swine diseases affected 20 percent of the country’s backyard hog farms.

Supply in Visayas and Mindanao are expected to be stable for the remainder of the year, Eleria said.

“Normally, the cycle is that from June to August, prices of pork decline,“ he said. “But with the current situation, we think that prices will likely go up even before August precisely because of a lack in supply.“

Despite increases in production cost, Eleria said, traders who buy pork from hog raisers at P115 a kilo cannot afford to raise prices beyond P180-P190 a kilo because consumers end up not buying at all.

View the Inquirer story by clicking here.

© 2000 - 2025 - Global Ag Media. All Rights Reserved | No part of this site may be reproduced without permission.