Hog raisers, dealers forced to cut profits to allow a bit for vendors

Hog raisers and dealers are being forced to cut their profits to allow market vendors a bit of their own while meeting the government's price ceiling of P270 for a kilo of pork.

According to Darlene Cay’s report on “24 Oras,” hog raiser Rene Ramirez said the pork supply of hog raisers was cut in half but the price of raising hogs remained high.

He said hog raisers had yet to completely recover from impact of the African swine fever.

“Marami ang tumigil, marami ang nalugi, marami ang talagang nag-suffer. So bilang hog raisers din, hindi din kami makapagpadami kasi natatakot din ako,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said he tried to sell a hog to dealer Randy Tanael for P200 per kilo of live weight but had to cut the price to P180. He said that he was forced to do so as the hogs might become oversized if they remained unsold.

“Kailangan ko nang dispose talaga ‘yung mga baboy na iyan. So, wala, I have no choice. Kailangan ko na ibigay talaga,” Ramirez said.

They agreed on selling each live hog for P180 per kilo.

Ramirez said a whole hog would sell for P18,000 but with the cost of feeds, maintenantce, labor, medicine, and permits, the amount, he said, was only “almost break-even.”

With a total cost of P16,300 per 100 kilos of live weight, he would only have a profit of P1,700.

“Sa totoo lang, halos parang breakeven lang. Dahil malaki talaga ang gastos, mahal ang feeds,” Ramirez said.

Meanwhile, Tanael brought the hogs from Batangas to a slaughterhouse Las Piñas, where the pork that previously weighed 100 kilos was cut to only 81.

He then brought the pork to a market in Paco, Manila.

Tanael initially offered P255 per kilo to pork vendors in the market but they said there would be left without any profit.

“Hindi pa, hindi pa kaya. Kasi magkano na lang kakalabasan non... Ang laki agad ng mawawala sa iyo don, lugi,” pork meat vendor Jujit Bumban said.

Tanael then agreed to sell the pork meat at P240 per kilo.

“Hindi pa namin alam kung kikita, susubukan lang namin,” Bumban said.

With his costs totaling P230.53 per kilo, selling pork to the vendors at P240 left Tanael with a profit of less than P10 for every kilo.

“Pagka ganito pa ang trending ng presyo at hindi ako makakatawad sa farm, magi-istop muna ako kasi hindi kakayanin. Mauubos ang puhunan pagka ganon,” Tanael said.