MANILA – The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday stated that an increase in the price of pork is unlikely to happen during the Christmas holiday, considering its adequate supply.
According to DA Deputy spokesperson Rex Estoperez, they are not expecting significant price adjustments.
“Sa ngayon, wala pa tayong nakikitang pagtaas ng karne ng baboy, kasi marami nga, kahit frozen. Kaso nga hindi ‘yan ‘yung preference ng ating mga kababayan. Iyong bagong katay ang preference nila (For now, we are not yet seeing a pork price hike because the supply is more than enough, even frozen meat. However, Filipinos prefer fresh meat),” he said.
Even if pork prices go up, Estoperez said, it would be minimal.
“Ayaw naming mag-speculate pagdating ng kapaskuhan. Medyo konting pagtaas pero hindi naman sana ‘yung pagtaas na masyadong malaki (We don’t want to speculare, but when Christmas comes, a slight increase, but we hope for an increase that is not too much),” he added.
Ample supply
The DA stated that the quantity of fresh and frozen pork in the market remains high.
“Iyong karne po natin, ‘yung baboy po, ang supply po nito ay sobrang dami po niyan… Mababa ang farmgate price, pero pagdating sa pamilihan, mayroon po tayong binabayaran na transport cost. Iyong ating mga namumuhunan dito, may mga incidental expenses. So idagdag lang nila. Pero kung sa supply, sobra-sobra ang supply ng baboy ayon din ‘yun sa mga kasama natin sa industriya (Our pork supply is very high. Its farmgate price is low. But when it reaches the market, there is transport cost. Investors also incur incidental expenses. So this contributes to the price. But when it comes to supply, our pork supply is more than enough, according to our industry players),” he said.
Meanwhile, frozen pork prices remained lower than those of freshly butchered pork.
Monday’s pricing for frozen pork liempo in Metro Manila vary from PHP265/kg to PHP300/kg, which is lower than the fresh pork liempo prices, which range from PHP290/kg to PHP390/kg.
Frozen pork kasim or pigue range from PHP210/kg to PHP260/kg, which is more affordable than fresh pork, which costs from PHP260/kg to PHP360/kg.
In the National Capital Region, the Marikina market, Commonwealth Market and Mega Q-mart in Quezon City offer the lowest prices of pork meat.
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