ILOILO City – The shipment of live hogs to Luzon will continue amid the 60-days price cap imposed by the government on prices of pork and chicken products sold in Metro Manila.
Remelyn Recoter, regional executive director of the Department of Agriculture (DA) VI, said on Wednesday that the region will ship hogs as long as there are buyers.
“We are more than sufficient, we still have stocks,” she said.
She added that currently, the region has an ongoing repopulation through the distribution of stocks to those affected by Typhoon Ursula. The DA’s livelihood program and local government units distribute piglets for free to their target beneficiaries.
However, with price cap, some financiers and shippers backed out because they anticipated a price freeze and possible importation.
Monitoring of the last two weeks or third and fourth week of January showed prices of live hogs from auction markets in Leon, Iloilo; Sibalom, Antique, Kabankalan, and Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental dropped by P10. The price range is now between P130-P135 per kilo.
During the first two weeks of January, the buying price of live weight was at P140 to P145 per kilo.
Those livestock auction markets are being operated by local government units but rehabilitated and funded by DA.
Recoter added that during Senate hearing on Feb. 1, Western Visayas has the lowest live weight price compared with other regions in the country.
“Hopefully the price will not drop further because based on the accounting of our livestock program, the breakeven is at P110 per kilo. If it is P140, then they will have a margin of P30, which is better when compared with the previous price of P85 to P90 per kilo,” she added.
In 2020, over 70,000 heads of live hogs were shipped to Luzon. The shipping has reached Regions 1, 3, and 4A, she said. (PNA)
