Low pork prices take effect Monday

PRECIOUS COMMODITY – A meat vendor prepares the order of a customer at a public market in Quezon City. Inflation in the Philippines surged to 4.2 percent after prices of meat increased by 17.1 percent, as well as that of vegetables (21.2 percent) and fruits (nine percent), according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. (Mark Balmores)

- MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR

The new price ceiling on pork and chicken within Metro Manila is set to take effect tomorrow, Feb. 8, to help arrest the rising cost of these farm commodities, amid opposition from industry, consumer, and retailer groups.

For one, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) Chairperson Rosendo So thinks the new price ceiling is too low that market vendors in Metro Manila will lose money if they continue to buy and sell pork.

President Duterte recently signed Executive Order 124 setting a 60-day price ceiling on pork and chicken within Metro Manila, with a price cap of P270 per kilogram (/kg) for pork kasim, P300/kg for pork liempo, and P160/kg for whole dressed chicken.

The EO will take effect February 8. The order was supposed to take effect last week but the Department of Agriculture (DA) decided to implement a grace period to give industry players time to adjust.

The DA is coordinating with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and local chief executives to enforce the EO.

So, in a text exchange on Saturday, said the price ceiling for pork is “too low” and unless the government will subsidize the transport cost of the supply, a lot of industry players will lose money.