Pork glut, price drop amid swine fever scare

WAITING Daniel Baduria waits for customers at his meat stall in a market in Guiguinto town in Bulacan province as many market-goers avoid pork due to the scare created by African swine fever infestation among domestic hogs. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — Hog raisers and meat producers in Pampanga province have reported experiencing a 75-percent drop in pork sales due to the African swine fever scare.

According to Toto Gonzales, spokesperson for the Pampanga Swine Producers Association (PSPA), their members have been suffering from low sales since last week even if Pampanga is still largely unaffected by the animal disease.

In a meeting with Gov. Dennis Pineda and agriculture officials on Monday, Gonzales said prices of pork also dropped to P100 per kilogram from P127 last week.

PSPA has sustained a P15-billion industry, with its commercial farms producing a minimum of 1,500 hogs a day for the domestic market. It directly employs more than 1,600 workers.

To address the glut, PSPA has proposed supplying seven Pampanga-based large meat processing companies that import their pork. These have stopped buying from countries with cases of African swine fever.

Pineda has agreed to organize a meeting between PSPA members and meat processors.

Olongapo ban

Gonzales said pork had been scarce in Olongapo City since the ban of pork products imposed by the Bataan provincial government and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority since last week.

PSPA has been negotiating with authorities to lift the ban.

In Candaba town in Pampanga, backyard hog raisers still have 5,000 hogs to dispatch but they refuse to cull these at a compensation cost of P3,000 each from the government, according to Victoria Sandoval, representative of small hog raisers.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday confirmed cases of swine fever in several areas in Central Luzon region. Agriculture Secretary William Dar, however, declined to identify these areas.

Last week, the DA said there were cases of swine fever in 11 areas in the country, including several villages in Rodriguez town, Rizal province.

No to imports

Earlier, the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) called on Dar to suspend the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) permits for pork imports and to cancel all SPS still to be processed.

Although the reported swine fever outbreaks in Bulacan and Rizal provinces were already contained, the threat would continue if pork importation was not stopped, according to Rosendo So, Sinag chair.

“The volume of pork imports won’t matter. Even with little importation, if the product is contaminated with ASF (African swine fever), it could still pose risks,” So said in a statement.

He said the government should protect the P286-billion hog industry because a swine fever infestation would also affect other industries like corn, “darak” (rice bran), copra and sugarcane.

PRODUCT SAFETY In Pampanga province, meat stores post assurances like this to allay fears of African swine fever. —TONETTE OREJAS

The ban on pork import would not violate the country’s commitment to the World Trade Organization, he said.

According to So, even with the total pork importation ban, the Philippines’ pork supply is still safe as the country produces 94 percent of local pork consumption.

Pork processors also buy from commercial farms, he said. There are 12,729,000 hogs in the country, raised in commercial farms and backyard piggeries, Sinag records showed.

The group asked the public to continue patronizing local pork products that, it said, “remain safe, clean and wholesome.” —With a report from Yolanda Sotelo