MANILA, Philippines — Spain is looking to penetrate the Philippines‘ retail market for its pork exports as demand is seen to grow further on the back of higher consumption and an improving economy.
Interporc, the Spanish association of the pork sector, is looking to tap the retail market as it mainly caters to Philippine meat processors.
“We have a proven experience in terms of relationship and we hope to get new channels to sell our products because we are exporting to processors,” Interporc deputy director and international manager Daniel de Miguel said.
“Once the meat arrives in the Philippines, the meat is processed. But now, (what) we have to do is to demonstrate that our meat can go to the retail channel…and it’s a challenge for us,” he said.
Interporc said it is ready to meet the country’s demand of pork in the retail market, which is seeing a steady growth.
Unlike the trend in Europe, De Miguel cited the Philippines’ growing consumption as a main driver to target the retail channels.
“We have to highlight that the economic situation of the Philippines is improving a lot. The consumption is increasing. That situation is completely different in Europe where the consumption is decreasing a lot for meat in general because the trend is different and the Filipino market appreciates the good flavor of pork,” he said.
In the past three years, Interporc said exports to the Philippines have grown by 30 percent and it continues to see an upward trend in shipments.
“I think the trend could be positive in the next coming years...perhaps not 30 percent increase but five to 10 percent, depending on the demand of the Philippines. But we are well prepared to provide safe products to the Philippines,” De Miguel said.
Currently, the African swine fever (ASF) has already spread to 16 regions after the deadly virus penetrated Central Visayas.
With this, Interporc said Spain, Europe’s largest pork producer, is ready to help augment the Philippine pork supply.
Last year, Spain was the country’s top source of pork, importing 222.08 million kilos or 31.3 percent of the total pork shipments, based on data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).
As of end-February this year, the BAI data showed Spain remained as the country’s major supplier of pork at 8.75 million kilos, or 28.9 percent of the total.
Interporc, along with Filporc – the Portuguese association of the pork sector – have commenced their campaign “EU Pork, the Smart Choice” to promote high-quality European pork from Spain and Portugal.
The three-year campaign is held in three Asian markets namely China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Currently, the Philippines ranks as the second-largest meat market by volume in the ASEAN region, following Vietnam, and fifth in Asia, with a projected 32 percent increase in the next five years.