Pork prices to decline - hog raisers

Pork prices are expected to decline in the next four weeks amid the spike in retail costs, according to pork producers.

- By BELLA CARIASO

Retail prices of pork have reached as high as P460 per kilo.

Holiday demand for pork went higher last year compared to 2023, Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines president Rolando Tambago said in a radio interview.

Lunar New Year festivities contributed to the demand, he noted.

Pork retail prices usually decline in March during Holy Week, he said.

The farmgate price of pork remains low at P220 to P225 per kilo, Tambago said.

The Department of Agriculture (DA), he said, should implement a maximum suggested retail price (SRP) on imported pork.

Tambago expressed doubt the government will penalize traders who violate the maximum SRP.

Seventy percent of the Philippine pork consumption came from imports, but the tariff cut did not bring down pork retail prices, farmers' group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura executive director Jayson Cainglet said earlier.

Summon economic managers Meanwhile, economic managers must be summoned by Congress to explain rising rice prices despite the 20-percent tariff cut, former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor said yesterday.