October 8, 2012
Philippine hog raisers assure ample pork supply in December
Local hog raisers in the Philippines have assured stable pork supply for the coming holidays but warned of a surge in the product''s prices due to soaring feed prices.
"There is ample supply of pork," Edwin G. Chen, president of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, Inc. (ProPork), told reporters at the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Agrilink 19th International Agribusiness Exhibition at the World Trade Centre in Pasay City.
"Traditionally, demand for pork and other meat products slow during the third quarter, and this results in bigger stocks in farms, as well as inventory in the cold storage facilities, ahead of the holidays. By December, our consumption doubles or triples, but the inventory can meet the demand."
He noted, however, that feed costs are slowly increasing partly due to the drought in the US. The prices of soy and feed wheat have risen, and there has been an unusually low supply of yellow corn in the market despite a bumper corn harvest in the first half.
"Pork prices right now are stable but we are seeing high feed costs. Soy prices are high in the world market, also feed wheat," he said.
"The price of corn has also surged to more than PHP17 (US$0.41) per kilogramme despite the supposed good harvest. We believe there''s a move by some corn traders to hold their stocks, to corner the market," Chen said.
Soy, feed wheat and yellow corn are main ingredients of animal feeds. The Philippines imports all of its soy and feed wheat requirements.
Corn harvests reached 3.47 million tonnes first half, a 4.81% increase from last year''s 3.31 million tonnes, according to Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) data.
Chen said that stakeholders in the livestock and poultry industry are going to write to the Agriculture department to urge the government to investigate and track down hoarders to ensure the price of corn in the domestic market remains reasonable.
"There''s normally a spike in corn prices in January. I think we should continue importing feed wheat so millers will be ensured of ample supply of feed stock before that period," he said.
The Philippine Association of Feed Millers, Inc. (PAFMI) in June said it has already booked at least 1.4 million tonnes of feed wheat imports from Australia to meet its feed stock requirements for the rest of the year.
In 2011, local feed millers imported 1.071 million tonnes of feed wheat, 11.33% higher than in 2010. PAFMI officials were not immediately available for further comment.
In a separate interview at the event, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said his department will look into the hoarding allegations, saying he has already tasked the Bureau of Animal Industry and the National Food Authority to investigate the issue.
"We expect to come up with a recommendation by next week," Alcala said.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador S. Salacup said there is merit to hog raisers'' complaints, noting that majority of corn farmers have already completed harvest of their crops for the third quarter of 2012.
"Based on reports from the BAS, we only have about 10% standing crop of corn right now, which means that most of the corn from the last harvest is no longer with the farmers," he said.