MANILA, Philippines — The country’s hog inventory fell nearly 18 percent at the start of July as hog production further declined in the second quarter.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s swine inventory stood at 9.64 million heads as of end-July compared to 11.74 million heads in the same period last year.
Swine population in both backyard farms and commercial farms declined by 11.8 percent and 29.8 percent, respectively, the PSA said.
Of the total swine population, 71.3 percent were raised in backyard farms while the remaining 28.7 percent were from commercial farms.
Western Visayas recorded the highest hog population with 1.18 million heads.
This was followed by Northern Mindanao with 1.13 million heads and Central Visayas with 1.12 million heads.
The three regions comprised 35.6 percent of the country’s total swine inventory at 3.4 million heads.
Meanwhile, total hog production was estimated at 406,066 metric tons (MT), liveweight. This is a 26.2 percent decline from the 550,017 MT, liveweight output in the same quarter last year.
The PSA reported that 10 regions in the country posted lower hog production with Central Luzon recording the largest decline at 77.1 percent to 23,952 MT.
Based on the latest ASF zoning map of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the majority of the provinces in Central Luzon remain in the red zone or remain infected with African Swine Fever.
In contrast, Central Visayas was the top producer of hogs during the quarter with a production of 55,152 MT, liveweight.
This was followed by Northern Mindanao and Western Visayas with 52,824 MT and 47,231 MT, respectively.
The three regions collectively shared 38.2 percent to the country’s total hog production at 155,207 MT.
Meanwhile, the average farmgate price of hogs upgraded for slaughter during the quarter was P164.71 per kilo, liveweight.
This was 51.6 percent higher than the previous year’s same quarter average farmgate price of P108.66 per kilo, liveweight.
The highest farmgate price was recorded in April at P167.11 per kilo, liveweight, while the lowest was in June at P160.94 per kilo, liveweight.