The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the private sector continued its collaboration to revive the hog industry affected by the African swine fever (ASF) with a new breeder farm in Nueva Ecija. The DA committed PHP80 million to the 5,000-sow level breeder nucleus farm of JG Agroventures Inc. and Pig Improvement Company (PIC), which is already under construction in Barangay Sta. Rita, Quezon town. The state-of-the-art facility will be stocked with great grandparent breeders, whose offsprings or grandparent (GP) piglets will be sold and distributed to commercial and clustered backyard swine raisers in Nueva Ecija and the rest of Luzon.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered five illegal online lending operators to stop their operations without prior authorization from the commission. In an order issued February 3, the commission en banc directed Tacoloan, VCash, 365 Cash, SwipeCash, and BootCash to immediately cease and desist from operating, engaging in, carrying out, abetting, and/or promoting lending/financing businesses and related activities until they have incorporated and secured from the SEC their respective certificates of authority to operate as a lending or financing company (CA). The companies, their agents, representatives and promoters, as well as the owners and operators of their hosting

Rising geopolitical tensions in the past few months have contributed to the already tight European natural gas market and prompted the search for additional supplies, Fitch Ratings said in a statement Monday. Intensified geopolitical tensions may have delayed Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would carry gas from Russia to Germany, added to gas price volatility, and prompted the search for alternative gas supplies for Europe, the global rating agency said. Other major contributing factors to tightness in the European gas market are low gas inventories and reduced deliveries from Russian gas company Gazprom, it added. “While Europe will remain

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) will allow the importation of 200,000 metric tons (MT) of standard and bottlers grade (premium refined) sugar in anticipation of a shortfall. Sugar Order No. 3 was signed following the result of the assessment on the damage and losses caused by Typhoon Odette to sugarcane crops in December last year, according to an SRA statement on Tuesday. The pre-final crop estimate of raw sugar production is now down to 2.072 MT, less than the 2.099 MT pre-final crop estimate prior to “Odette”. The lower level of raw sugar production