(Para matugunan ang demand) PH TULOY SA PAG-IMPORT NG BABOY

KAKAILANGANIN ng Pilipinas na patuloy na umangkat ng pork products para matugunan ang pangangailangan ng bansa, ayon sa Department of Finance (DOF).

“It will take some time to recover decimated hog populations,” pahayag ng DOF sa isang  statement.

Sa isang economic bulletin, sinabi ng ahensiya na ang seasonal peak sa pre-African swine fever hog headcount ay nasa 13.1 million sa third quarter ng 2018.

Subalit bumagsak ang hog inventory sa mas mababa sa 9.9 million hanggang noong katapusan ng third quarter noong 2021.

“The drastic drop in domestic hog supply immediately translated into higher prices of swine and, subsequently, pork. For the first 10 months of 2021, backyard hog farmgate prices averaged P155.6/kilograms (kg), up by 38.9 percent from the 2020 average of P112/kg,” anang DOF.

Ayon sa DOF, ang meat price inflation ay pumalo sa 16.8 percent noong 2021, ang pinakamataas na annual price increase ng anumang major food item magmula noong 2012.

Ang 16.8 percent meat price inflation noong nakaraang taon ang bumubuo sa 1.1 percentage points sa 4.4 percent overall inflation.

“…it would do good if the Department of Agriculture-National Meat Inspection Service also affirm to the President its commitment to the spirit of administrative order 13, s. 2018 (Removing Non-Tariff Barriers and Streamlining of Administrative Procedures on the Importation of Agricultural Products),” dagdag ng ahensiya.