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‘Pork holiday’ looms in Metro. Inquirer Newsletter. February 8, 2021.

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Feb 11, 3PM

Banner Story

‘Pork holiday’ looms in Metro

By Jhesset O. Enano

An agricultural group has pressed the Department of Agriculture (DA) for support to hog raisers battling steep production and transport costs amid calls by traders and vendors for a “pork holiday” to protest price ceilings on pork and chicken in Metro Manila starting Monday.

“Transport costs have ballooned, with the pork coming from Visayas and Mindanao, and traders are now facing tripled or quadrupled costs … With the price cap, how are the vendors going to sell?” said Jayson Cainglet, executive director of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag).

In an interview on Sunday, Cainglet said the DA should subsidize the P30-per-kilo transport cost to help defray the expenses of raisers who are shipping their pork products to Metro Manila.

Metro Manila prices

Pork prices have soared as the local hog industry battles the spread of African swine fever. The disease has disrupted the operations of hog farms in Batangas, Bulacan and nearby provinces, prompting hog raisers in the Visayas and Mindanao to supply Metro Manila.

President Duterte issued Executive Order No. 124, which imposes the price ceilings on pork shoulder, or “kasim,” and pork leg or ham, or “pigue,” at P270 per kilo, and on pork belly, or “liempo,” at P300.

For dressed chicken, the price ceiling was set at P160 a kilo.

The price caps will be enforced in Metro Manila’s public markets and supermarkets selling imported pork for 60 days beginning Monday.

Without government support, the acceptable price of pork, given the current situation, would be between P330 and P390 per kilo, Sinag said.

Cainglet said his group empathized with vendors and traders who would opt to stop selling pork due to the price ceilings. —WITH REPORTS FROM BONG S. SARMIENTO, JIGGER J. JERUSALEM AND VILLAMOR VISAYA JR. INQ

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Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net