DA assures sufficient supply of pork, poultry products until March 2021
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) assures that pork and poultry products are sufficient to supply the consuming public until the year end and through the first quarter of 2021.
In a report to Secretary William Dar, the DA’s National Livestock Program (NLP) said that more than 213,500 hogs from Visayas and Mindanao have been shipped to Metro Manila and nearby provinces since May 2020 to augment the supply of pork and pork products.
“We sincerely thank our hog raisers and their respective local government officials in the Visayas and Mindanao for promptly heeding our call to transport their hogs to Metro Manila and thus ensure the supply of pork this holiday season and onto January 2021 and beyond,” said Secretary Dar.
With the imposition of quarantine and lockdown due to Covid-19 and incidence of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Luzon, Secretary Dar directed the respective DA regional directors in Visayas and Mindanao to coordinate with swine raisers so they can facilitate the transport of their hogs to Metro Manila and ease up the tightening supply and prices of pork.
Additional supply of pork during the holidays and onto next year is expected as hog producers in General Santos City gear up to increase shipments to Metro Manila and other major markets in Luzon.
As for poultry supply, DA-NLP Head and Undersecretary for Livestock William Medrano said the country has enough until next year.
“We have also surplus supply of poultry meat, with an inventory of 43,345 MT of frozen dressed chicken as of first week of December, 46% more than last year’s level,” Usec. Medrano added.
Overall, despite the pandemic and ASF, he said there was a slight increase in the total volume of pork and chicken compared to 2019, according to DA-NMIS data.