Agri group calls for repeal of higher minimum access volume for pork

The Samahang Industriya ng Agricultura (SINAG) on Sunday called for the repeal of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive that raised the minimum access volume (MAV) for pork this year by nearly fourfold to augment supply and reduce retail prices.

In a Facebook post, SINAG executive director Jayson Cainglet said Executive Order 116 that hiked the MAV of pork meat from 54,210 metric tons (MT) to 204,210 MT would be detrimental to the local hog industry.

“Sobra sobra ang suplay ng baboy!... Pinapatay ng bumabahang murang pork imports ang industriya ng pagbababoy!” Cainglet said.

(There is an excess in the supply of pork… The cheap pork imports will kill the hog industry.)

EO 116 said the African Swine Fever has significantly reduced the national swine inventory, which resulted in a “substantial supply shortfall and persistently elevated pork prices,” and that there is an urgent need to address the existing supply gap in pork, ensure adequate and affordable food for consumers, and mitigate inflationary pressures,

Cainglet claimed that according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), pork prices are not among the top five inflation drivers.

He added that EO 116 is without basis and that setting the MAV is a power vested in Congress.

He also urged Filipinos to patronize fresh, clean, and safe local pork in order to strengthen the local hog industry. — JMA, GMA News