Yap had earlier called to a meeting the stakeholders of the hog industry – swine raisers, meat processors, wholesalers and retailers – to find ways to bring down the price of pork in the market.

“This is good for the consumers, especially since farm gate prices are now lower,” Lim said. “There’s really no reason for pork prices in the market to be sold at P160-P170 per kilo.”

Lim explained that prices of pork in the wet markets should be in the P140-P150 level only since farm gate prices are at an average of P82 per kilo at the moment.

“Actually, the very low farm gate prices right now is putting a strain on many pig farmers,” he said.

Unfortunately, the high retail price in the markets is an additional burden to hog raisers because consumers tend to stay away from buying pork because it has become expensive for them, reports The Visayan Daily Star.

“We are happy with the quick response of Secretary Yap to our industry’s concerns,” Lim said.

Yap said he called the meeting to find a common ground among industry players to come up with a fair reference price that would be beneficial not only to consumers but also to producers and traders.

Lim said that, with the lower retail cost of pork, the industry hopes it would encourage consumers to buy and eat more pork. “This way, hog farmers will also benefit since the lower market price will increase consumer demand,” the press release added.