Amid the campaign against the African swine fever (ASF) in Davao Region, the Department of Agriculture – Region 11 (DA-11) has assured there would be ample supply of pork meat and its by-products during the holiday season.
At a press briefing Thursday, Dr. Karl Laurence Pineda, DA-11 livestock division coordinator, said based on their monitoring, there is currently enough supply of pork meat available from local suppliers, but a spike in market prices is expected due to its high demand during the period.
“The farm gate price is at PHP140-PHP150. We have a lot of supply from the farms here in Davao Region but the supplier readies it for the Christmas season,” he said.
With the current situation, Pineda said the DA-11 also has to get an additional supply of pork meat from Bukidnon since hog farms in the region allocate the bulk of their stocks for the holidays.
Meanwhile, Alexander Sibuan, DA-11 marketing specialist, said a suggested retail price (SRP) will not be implemented for the farm gate, wholesale and retail of meat products as their prices customarily increase during Christmas time.
“There is no need to impose SRP because normally, during October and November there is an increase of prices on pork meat due to the high demand,” he said.
Sibuan also cited that one of the reasons for the increasing rate of pork meat was also due to the recent surge in fuel prices which resulted in additional transport costs of the products.
“It is expected to have an increase of PHP10 per kilo because of the fuel cost. We advised the customers to look for quality meat with a lesser price,” he said.
DA-11 Director Abel James Monteagudo urged the public to report to their office should a certain store or stall sell overpriced pork meat products.
“Please be wary of those people selling their pork products with triple or four times higher the market prices. Your feedback about the prices is very important to us,” he said.
Monteagudo said the DA-11 was mandated to monitor prices of farm products in the market, and assured that reasonable prices and quality meats will be accessed by the consumers.
“We don’t want it to be manipulated by unscrupulous peddlers,” he added.
Source: Philippines News Agency
