The country’s frozen pork inventory fell as deliveries from importers and local hog raisers shrank, according to the latest data from an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Figures from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) showed that pork in cold storage facilities nationwide as of April 15 slid by 13.5 percent to 51,929.04 metric tons (MT) from last year’s 60,060.89 MT.
The latest pork inventory consisted mostly of imports which dropped by 10 percent to 51176.09 MT from the previous year’s 56,946.74 MT.
Pig meat from local raisers plunged by 75 percent to 752.95 MT, from the 3,114.15 MT recorded on April 17, 2023.
On a monthly basis, the latest figure was also lower by more than 13,600 MT from the 65,582.05 MT recorded on March 18.
The Philippines continued to import pork to beef up its supply as African swine fever (ASF) slashed local hog production. The fatal hog disease resulted in the culling of thousands of hogs and crimped output in areas struck by ASF.
From nearly 2.3 million metric tons (MMT) of hogs produced in 2019, when ASF was first detected in the Philippines, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that output plunged to 1.696 MMT in 2021, as the disease struck both commercial and backyard farms.
Hog production registered improvements in 2022 and 2023, when it reached 1.737 MMT and 1.793 MMT, respectively. The figures, however, are still lower than the 2019 volume.
Manila had to lower tariffs on pork in its bid to ensure the stable supply of the Filipinos’ favorite source of protein.
Aside from the United States and Germany, the country bought imported pork from Spain, which increased its exports to the Philippines by 50 percent last year, according to Euro Pork.
“We are optimistic that it is going to grow this year as Spain is now a major supplier of pork in the Philippines,” Andrea Gonzalez, representative of Euro Pork in the Philippines, told the BusinessMirror in an interview on the sidelines of a recent meat tasting event held at the Bonifacio Global City.
Gonzales also said Portugal is keen on exporting meat products to the Philippines and that EU Pork is now working on making this happen.
NMIS said its latest frozen pork inventory came from accredited commercial and in-house cold storage facilities including slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.
Regions 3, 4-A and the National Capital Region (NCR) accounted for a chunk of the frozen pork inventory during the period.
Data from the NMIS also indicated that the inventory of dressed chicken declined slightly to 51,044.32 MT from the previous year’s 51,130.69 MT.
On a monthly basis, however, dressed chicken inventory fell by nearly 16 percent from the 60,999.33 MT recorded on March 18.
Imports accounted for more than half of the dressed chicken inventory at 34,849.22 MT while deliveries from local raisers reached 16,195.1 MT.
Regions 4-A, 3 and the NCR again accounted for the lion’s share of the dressed chicken inventory recorded on April 15.
NMIS said its data did not include fresh chilled chicken and mechanically deboned meat. Those in already in distribution channels were also excluded.
Image credits: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg