The Samahang Industriya ng Argrikultura (SINAG) said cold storages of pork imports are “overflowing” and those claiming there is a shortage are “economic saboteurs.”
“The volume in storages is unprecedented. It’s not dropping and continues to grow, beyond their capacity… There are still those in reefer vans waiting for their turn. They don’t have space left for more imported pork,” said Rosendo So, SINAG chairman, in a statement.
Earlier this week, the Bureau of Animal Industry said supply outlook on pork for the last quarter is at 95 percent sufficiency level compared to third quarter 2022’s 121 percent.
The agency said frozen meat imports mostly from the US will also help plug the deficiency for the quarter.
Citing a document from the National Meat Inspection Service, SINAG said there are currently 113,267.19 metric tons (MT) of frozen pork in accredited cold storages as of November 21. Of that volume, 110,850.43 MT are imported and the remaining 2,416.76 MT are from local sources.
“If there was a supply gap on pork, even rice and chicken, farmgate prices should have also gone up… But it never happened as farmgate price of pork and chicken even dropped. Farmgate of live hogs is only at P155 to 175 per kg.,” SINAG added.
