Grace period till Feb. 8 for pork, chicken price caps

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has given hog and poultry raisers until Feb. 8 to follow the price ceilings for pork and chicken being sold in Metro Manila’s public markets amid mounting pressure from resisting groups.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar on Tuesday said the “grace period” would allow them time to adjust.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday signed Executive Order No. 124 imposing a 60-day price freeze to immediately squash the exorbitant prices of pork and chicken in public markets.

Pork cuts are currently being sold for as high as P440 a kilo and dressed chicken for P200 a kilo. Duterte approved a price ceiling of P270 to P300 a kilo for pork and P160 a kilo for chicken on the DA’s recommendation.

Hog and poultry breeders, traders and resellers said the price pegs were too low. According to industry leaders, the rates must be at least between P330 and P360 a kilo for pork, and between P170 and P190 a kilo for chicken for raisers to earn a profit.

Unscrupulous traders

Dar reiterated his position that unscrupulous traders and wholesalers were making large profits of more than P200 per kilo between the farmgate and retail prices of pork during a joint hearing of the House committees on agriculture and food and on trade and industry on Tuesday.

Authorities are now keeping a close watch on wholesalers and traders who are reportedly responsible for driving up the prices of pork, he said.

“Businessmen will still turn out a profit, if only traders or wholesalers will not manipulate the farm-gate price. They are the ones dictating that the farm-gate prices should be marked up,” Dar said.

The United Broilers Raisers Association (Ubra) and the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. said the coronavirus pandemic and the African swine fever had dramatically changed the poultry and hog sectors’ expenses.

For instance, the groups said the price for day-old chicks has reached a record-high while transport costs for hogs to Luzon from the Visayas and Mindanao also rose.

“This measure will boil down to the producers,” said Chester Warren Tan, president of the National Federation of Hog Producers Inc.

“Remember that our inputs don’t have SRP (suggested retail price) and our raw materials have already tripled. I am speaking on behalf of all hog producers, especially those in the Visayas and Mindanao, in asking DA to give us a reprieve. This would not encourage further production,” he said.

Tariff cuts

All industry groups present in the House hearing also opposed the DA’s proposal to cut tariffs on pork and rice, and to expand the import volume under the minimum access volume.

Alyansa Agrikultura chair Ernesto Ordoñez said that based on his group’s analysis, the current landed prices of imported chicken and pork were lower than the prices of local products.

“There is no need to make [imports] cheaper because they are already coming in. If the government does, they will further harm local producers … This is adding insult to injury,” he said.

Dar said the DA must implement a mix of interventions to ensure the country’s food security, which includes ramping up local production and importation. He admitted to a scarcity in pork supply due to African swine fever, and that the price ceiling was a short-term solution to the problem.

Retailers, vendors

He clarified that the price freeze will be enforced only in public or wet markets in Metro Manila, with local price coordinating councils, the Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of the Interior and Local Government leading the implementation.

Senate leaders on Tuesday said the President’s order to impose ceilings on pork and chicken prices could be well-intentioned but unwise, warning of its adverse consequences for hog and poultry raisers, and small vendors.

“Allowing prices to increase in the short term incentivizes producers to increase production,” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto told the Inquirer. “Conversely, a price freeze will not incentivize producers and production will decrease.”

Since the last quarter of 2020, there has been a noticeable uptrend in the prices not only of meat but also of vegetables and fish, hurting poor families who are still reeling from the economic costs of the pandemic.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros urged the government to protect retailers and market vendors from taking the blame for the soaring prices of pork and chicken.

In a statement, Hontiveros said the DA must “improve its surveillance and zero in on specific industry players who may be responsible for the extraordinary price escalations, even when farm-gate prices remain low.”

She said she hoped the DA would heed Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez’s recommendation to impose a suggested retail price not only on retailers, “but at all levels of the value chain from farm gate, wholesalers and traders.”

This way, according to the senator, “the ax can be made to fall precisely where it should.” —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE M. AURELIO, JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE AND DJ YAP