FOOD TERMINAL, INC. (FTI) has begun purchasing 500 pigs daily from large farms and delivering them directly to slaughterhouses.
“The move is intended to ensure consistent supply and reinforce compliance with the established maximum suggested retail prices (MSRPs),” the Department of Agriculture (DA) said in a statement.
The DA on March 10 started implementing an MSRP scheme for pork, with a price of P300 per kilo for fresh carcasses, P350 a kilo for kasim (shoulder) and pigue (rear leg), and P380 per kilo for liempo (belly).
The DA said pork industry representatives vowed to police their ranks in the face of “alarmingly low compliance” with the pork MSRP.
The DA said less than 10% of sellers were found to be observing the price ceilings.
There is a need to uphold the “gentleman’s agreement” reached in earlier consultations to avert “more disruptive market interventions,” the DA said, citing Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock Dante Palabrica.
The MSRPs aim to balance the interests of producers, traders, retailers, and consumers “in light of continued inflationary pressures.”
On April 1, the DA said the level of compliance with the pork MSRP was low at 30% after monitoring 170 stalls.
The compliance rate was 20% during the first week of implementation. It rose to 25% as of March 22.
Meanwhile, the DA said it will roll out a P1-billion swine repopulation program.
It plans to distribute around 30,000 gilts (female pigs that have not produced litters) to large farms which, in turn, will supply reared pigs for distribution to backyard farmers. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza