Hog raisers assure enough pork supply

MANILA, Philippines - Hog raisers assure that there is adequate supply of pork in the market despite earlier statements made by food processors that a planned pork holiday is being used to mask a short supply situation.

“There is no shortage of pork in the market,” Rosendo So, spokesperson of the Swine Development Council said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said in a press conference yesterday there is enough supply of pork at the moment.

“There is no reason for price movement,” he added.

Francisco Buencamino, executive director of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. said in a press conference on Monday that they have received reports from dealers that pigs being sold in the market are undersized and that the short supply could still worsen because of an outbreak of pig diarrhea in the provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan and Batangas.

Buencamino also said the planned pork holiday is probably being used by the hog raisers so as not to reveal the short supply situation in the market.

So said the hog raisers were planning to hold another pork holiday to send the message that the industry is losing from the continued entry of misdeclared meat imports into the country.

He said in a statement yesterday that aside from threatening the survival of the local hog industry, the entry of misdeclared meat imports is likewise preventing government from collecting revenues.

He noted that the government has been losing P3.7 billion in annual revenues due to technical smuggling of pork and chicken where unscrupulous importers misdeclare their importations to avoid paying higher tariff of 40 percent.

“We want to protect the interest and survival of the local hog and poultry industries which are facing extinction due to unabated smuggling of pork and chicken by unscrupulous importers,” he said.

Imports of choice cuts of meat are entering the country by being declared as offals which are subject to a lower five-percent tariff.

He said the hog raisers are not against importations of meat but just want the government to go after importers involved in the smuggling of meat in the country.

Hog raisers launched a pig holiday late last month to press the government to act on unabated smuggling.

Hog raisers earlier called on the Department of Agriculture to remove National Meat Inspection Service executive director Jane Bacayo and Bureau of Animal Industry director Efren Nuestro from their respective posts, as they claimed that rampant smuggling has continued to hurt the industry.

Despite Bacayo’s resignation and Nuestro’s filing of leave of absence last week, hog raisers said they may still launch a five-day pork holiday if the Bureau of Customs (BoC) would not act immediately and implement measures to stop the smuggling of meat.

So said the decision to pursue the planned pork holiday would depend on the actions to be taken by the BoC.

In particular, he said, hog raisers want the BoC to implement a 100-percent inspection of offal imports in the bureau’s area, as part of efforts to address smuggling instead of conducting the inspection in cold storage facilities.

For his part, Edwin Chen president of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, Inc. said the government must also purge the list of meat importers of dummy corporations.