No more maximum suggested retail price for pork starting May 15
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has scrapped the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for pork effective Thursday, heeding clamor among various industry groups for immediate implementation.
“The lifting of the MSRP for pork is effective today,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said on the sidelines of the Benteng Bigas Meron Na program’s launching held Thursday.
“The main reason is there is also a clamor from the industry [to scrap the MSRP] saying the supply is extremely low, so they’re asking to sell their pork at a farm-gate price above P230 [per kilogram],” he told reporters.
READ: Philippines to scrap maximum suggested retail price for pork
Tiu Laurel explained that production challenges caused by the African swine fever, coupled with strong consumer demand, made it challenging to lower pork prices at the retail level.
The agriculture chief also cited low compliance rate among stakeholders, prompting the agency to take a step back and reevaluate their strategy to implement a more effective scheme to ensure supply and bring down prices.
Tiu Laurel hinted at implementing an actual price ceiling – instead of a suggested price that relies on moral suasion – but did not provide a timeline. He said it would depend on the agency’s evaluation of this strategy.
The DA first implemented the MSRP on March 10 to prevent excessive pricing. The suggested price limit was P350 per kilogram for pigue (leg/ham) and kasim on March 10. It also suggested a cap of P300 per kilo for freshly slaughtered carcass.
READ: Still grappling with ASF, Philippine meat imports up 26% in Q1
Low compliance
However, the compliance rate among vendors reached less than 10 percent, based on the DA’s recent market visits or inspections.
As of Wednesday, pork ham retailed from a low of P370 to a high of P400 per kg at Metro Manila markets, only slightly changed from P340-P410 per kg on March 10, the day the MSRP had taken effect.
Pork belly was sold from P390 to P470 per kg, compared with P360-P470 per kg. Frozen kasim was priced from P200-P300 per kg compared with P230-P280 per kg.
Meanwhile, frozen liempo was sold from P290 to P350 per kg, versus P290-P310 per kg previously.
Industry groups welcomed this development, saying they have yet to fully recover from the adverse impact of ASF.
“For the longest time, farmers are not supported when ASF hits the farm so the request of DA for farms to lower their farm gate price is a difficult sacrifice asked of farmers. However, for the sake of consumers and Sec Kiko, we acceded and cooperated,” National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. vice chair Alfred Ng said in a Viber message on Wednesday.
“Obviously, controlling producers is not a solution. The DA must monitor, supervise and check on the supply chain till market. DA should be able to find all these agents, viajeros and register them so that they can always keep a tag on them,” he added.
While exploring other measures to address steep pork prices, Tiu Laurel appealed to consumers to find more affordable protein alternatives such as chicken and fish.
“We urge our consumers to buy other protein sources instead, or frozen pork that are a lot cheaper than freshly slaughtered hogs. We will soon implement a new solution to lower prices,” Tiu Laurel said in a statement on Thursday.
