DA: No pork price hike seen amid ASF spread
Credit to Author: EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ| Date: Wed, 29 May 2019 16:21:02 +0000
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) assured consumers on Wednesday that “there should be no increase” in pork prices, citing local hog raisers’ capability to meet domestic demand amid the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China, Southeast Asia and beyond.
During a press conference in Malacañang, Agriculture Undersecretary for Operations Ariel Cayanan said “our hog sector guaranteed that they will be able to supply” pork to satisfy “local demand,” thus “there should be no increase on prices of pork.”
His assurance comes two days after Chester Warren Tan, president of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI), said the country’s pork supply should be good for about five months.
“For Mindanao, we have [about] two months of buffer stocks [of pork], and in Central Visayas, [we have] one-and-a-half to two months of” that, he added.
The remarks came a day after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered all importers, distributors and retail outlets to pull out all pork products — including processed ones like meat loaf, sausages and ham — imported from ASF high-risk countries.
“Food business operators importing, distributing, offering for sale and/or donating the banned products shall be prosecuted for violation of the FDA Act of 2000, the Food Safety Act of 2013 and other relevant laws, rules and regulation on food safety,” the agency said in its May 27 advisory.
The Agriculture department and hog raisers had appealed for pork imports from those countries to be suspended.
ASF is a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease afflicting domestic and wild pigs of all ages. It has no preventive vaccine or cure. Its mortality rate can go as high as 100 percent.
The current wave of ASF outbreaks originated in China, and has spread to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia. Also hit are Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa and Zambia.
Not seen to affect inflation
Also on Wednesday, an official of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the FDA order was unlikely to have an impact on inflation.
At the “Economy in Focus” briefing held by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and the Aboitiz Group of Companies in Makati City on Wednesday, NEDA Undersecretary
Rosemarie Edillon said that was because, “in terms of the contribution to the basket, [it] is not really that high.
Echoing Cayanan’s view, she also said pork prices are not likely to increase, adding that there was a need to make sure that the country would continue to be ASF-free.
“The DA has already taken steps toward ensuring that, hopefully, this one gets arrested in time and doesn’t affect our industry, especially since in the very short-term, that is what we are hoping to deliver growth in the agriculture sector,” Edillon said.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), she added, would also closely coordinate with other government agencies to make sure that the sentiment of the private sector will be taken into consideration.
With a reports from ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES
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