Hog farmers hail lower pork prices

The National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. (NFHFI), the nationwide association of hog raisers in the country, hailed the action of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap in setting up measures to lower the prices of pork sold to consumers.

Earlier, Yap met the stakeholders of the hog industry composed of swine raisers, meat processors, wholesalers and retailers in order to find ways to bring down the price of pork in the retail and wet markets, which has long been burdening the industry.

“The action was a good step for the consumers also, especially since farm gate prices are now much lower,” said NFHFI President Albert R. T. Lim. Jr. in a phone interview. 

“There’s really no reason for pork prices in the market to be sold at P160 to P170 per kilo or much higher,” he added.

Lim explained that prices of pork in the wet markets should be in the P140 to P150 price level only since farm gate prices at the moment are at a lower price range of about an average of P82 per kilo.

Lim shared that a recent survey showed that households have resorted to cutting down their food consumption because of the high prices of commodities which their shrinking disposable income could no longer afford.

Unfortunately, the high retail price in the markets for pork based products has become an additional burden to hog raisers as well because consumers tend to stay away from buying pork because it has become expensive.

“Actually, the very low farm gate prices right now are putting a strain on many pig farmers because most of the time their sales could not recoup the high production cost,” Lim lamented

Yap called the meeting to find a common ground among industry players to come up with a fair reference price that would be beneficial not only to consumers but also to producers and traders.

Earlier, NFHFI’s Council of Presidents urged the Department of Agriculture to launch an information campaign on the “right” pricing for pork products and come up with a suggested retail price (SRP) to prevent retailers from overpricing.

Lim said that government institutions cannot force vendors to lower down their retail prices in wet markets because there is no price control law that can compel them to do so.

But he said though that their sector is not in support for a price control law because it will not allow them to automatically increase prices if needed.

Lim said that with the lower retail cost of pork, the industry hopes it would encourage consumers to buy and eat more pork. 

“We are happy with the quick response of Secretary Yap to our industry’s concerns. This way, hog farmers will also benefit since the lower market price will increase consumer demand,” he said.

After the recent decline of pork consumption and demand due to higher retail prices and other economic factors, Lim is foreseeing an industry growth once again this holiday season as more consumers will be buying pork.

He also assured that pork supply will be sufficient enough to sustain this foreseen increase of pork demand and consumption during the holiday season.