THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it reached agreement with the pork industry to set a minimum farmgate price of P210 per kilogram for hogs on a liveweight basis.
The floor price is designed to arrest a steep drop in the live weight price to around P150 to P180 per kilo, which represents little more than breakeven cost, industry officials said.
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc., and the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines represented the hog industry in talks with the DA.
The DA said it will also recommend restoring the pork import tariff to 40% from the current 25% under Executive Order 62, citing excessive imports.
Low import duties have encouraged excess imports which have “flooded the market, squeezed local producers, and endangered both our food security and farmers’ livelihoods,” Mr. Laurel was quoted as saying in a statement.
Jayson H. Cainglet, executive director of SINAG, told BusinessWorld via Viber that the influx of cheaper imported pork has not shown up in market prices.
“Tutal hindi naman nagre-reflect ang tariff sa market price, ibalik na lang sa original. Binubulsa lang ng importers ang difference. Hindi nakikinabang ang consumers at producers (Since the low tariffs are not reflected in market prices, we might as well restore the original tariff. Importers are capturing the profits if tariffs are low but prices remain the same. Consumers and producers are not benefiting,” Mr. Cainglet said.
The DA added that it plans to reinstate a maximum suggested retail price for pork, which would be set at a level that balances “profitability across the supply chain and consumer protection.”
The DA will also issue an order reclassifying pork jowls, currently considered offal, to subject them to higher tariffs. Demand for pork jowls, a popular cut used in Korean barbecue (samgyupsal), has risen among meat processors. — Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel