Philippine state-run Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the local unit of Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CP Foods) in a bid to stabilize pork prices in Metro Manila, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Tuesday.
The MOA — signed by Joseph Lo, FTI president, and Nattakorn Sujipittham, CP Foods chief operating officer — outlines a pilot program for the Thai company to supply 100 live hogs per day at discounted prices, the DA said in a statement.
The hogs will be sent directly to a slaughterhouse in Caloocan, where the distributors and viajeros will receive them directly, the DA added.
The hogs will then be processed into fresh pork carcasses, which will be delivered to different retailers in various wet markets.
“If this pilot proves successful, we will extend it to other hog raisers, creating a broader solution to ensure pork remains affordably priced, with minimal shock to the industry,” Lo said.
The program will have a three-month trial from April to June 2025, in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the provinces of Rizal and Cavite, the FTI explained.
Lo said FTI picked CP Foods as partner due to its capacity to supply the volume needed for the pilot.
“We needed a company that could guarantee the volume we need at the price we were looking at to achieve our goals,” Lo explained.
CP Foods is currently expanding its operations in the Philippines. Last November, the company unveiled a P10-billion plan to build 20 new breeding farms and increase local pork production.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. welcomed the agreement as a significant step toward modernizing the local pork industry.
“We need creative approaches like this deal between FTI and CP Foods to modernize the pork industry’s supply chain, stabilize prices and ensure food security,” the DA chief said.
On March 10, the DA implemented a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) on pork at P300 per kg set for fresh carcass or what is locally known as sabit ulo; P350 per kg for kasim and pigue; and P380 per kg for liempo.
However, the DA had noticed low compliance with the MSRP as stakeholders cited various reasons for breaching the suggested price ceiling, including the higher pass-on cost from the logistics side of the value chain.
Based on the DA’s monitoring of public markets in the NCR on March 27, the prevailing prices of pork ham ranged from P320 to P420 per kg, pork belly from P380 to P450 per kg, frozen kasim from P230 to P290 per kg and frozen liempo, P290 to P310.
