Lower pork prices expected within March, DA says

Pork prices are expected to go down in March, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

"Within March magkakaroon ng pagbaba sa presyo ng baboy kasi nagkaroon na ng agreement ang mga stakeholders ng hog industry that should be reduction in price," said DA assistant secretary Arnel de Mesa.

(Within March, there will be a decrease in the price of pork because the stakeholders of the hog industry have already reached an agreement that there should be a reduction in price.)

He added that the farmgate price of pork is already going down ahead of the declaration of imposing a maximum suggested retail price on pork (MSRP). 

"Sa farmgate natin, tumaas yan sa level P250, P260, now we are seeing P220, P230, maximum siguro P240 na presyo ng farmgate. So, that alone will contribute 10 to 20 pesos reduction sa presyo ng baboy at the production level," explained De Mesa.

(At our farmgate, it rose to the level of P250, P260; now we are seeing P220, P230, and a maximum of maybe P240 farmgate price. So, that alone will contribute to a 10 to 20 pesos reduction in the price of pork at the production level.)

The latest price monitoring of the DA showed the price of pork ham now ranges from P350 to P420 from P370 to P430 at the start of the month. Meanwhile, pork belly prices previously ranging from P380 to P480 slightly dropped to P375 to P480.

The DA also said that another factor in the expected dip in pork prices is the increase in hog production.

"Unti-unti nang nakakabawi yung production natin, and with the impending release ng ASF vaccine at commercial level, we can further expect na lalo pang tataas ang production," De Mesa said.

(Our production is gradually recovering, and with the impending release of the ASF vaccine at the commercial level, we can further expect that production will increase even more.)

Meanwhile, the DA has yet to make an official announcement regarding the imposition of MSRP on pork. 

"We are seeing similarly like what we did with rice, na dahan dahan din na pagbaba. 'Yung mga nauna nang madeliver, mailabas din and then of course ano yan, will cause prices slowing down eventually," he said.

(We are seeing something similar to what we did with rice, which is also slowly decreasing. The ones that were delivered earlier will also be released, and then, of course, it will cause prices to slow down eventually.) --VAL, GMA Integrated News