AFP file photo
MANILA, Philippines–The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) has lauded the move of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to impose “suggested retail price” on fresh pork and chicken.
“We have been demanding the DA and the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) for the past weeks to immediately act on the continuing high retail prices of pork and chicken products despite the reduction at the farmgate for live hogs and chicken,” said Rosendo So, SINAG Chair, in a statement issued on Thursday.
The latest Farmgate Price Watch released by SINAG indicates farmgate prices of live hogs at P106/kilo to P120/kilo; while for chicken at the farmgate is ranging between P75 to P82/kilo. Retail prices of pork is
ranging from P190/kilo-P200/kilo while for chicken is around P135/kilo to P145/kilo.
Since October last year, SINAG has been releasing its Farmgate Price Watch, which lists down the price of agri products as sold by farmers to guide government and the consuming public on the actual price changes of basic food commodities.
According to SINAG, the difference for pork at farmgate to retail should only be P6o/kilo to cover costs of transport, handling, storage, marketing and profit margins; while for chicken, the difference should only be P40/kilo.
“Therefore, SRP is much needed at this point to protect the interest of unsuspecting consumers since a price difference of P90-P100/kilo from farmgate to retail is just too much,” added So.
According to SINAG, the SRP is imposed to reflect the true value of any agricultural commodity at the level of retailers since this is based on cost of production, farmgate prices and the added costs along the value chain from farmgate to the retailers.
“We at SINAG believe in reasonable margins for everyone in the livestock industry – from the producers, handlers, to transporters and retailers. The SRP will weed out opportunists and profiteers who take advantage of the public, especially at the time of natural calamities that has hit the country one after the other during the past months,” So stressed.