THE Philippine Egg Board has taken exception to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s remark that the increase in the price of eggs was not commensurate to the cost of production.
Board chairman Gregorio San Diego said the statement was “unfair.”
“Para sa akin unfair ‘yon kasi hindi pa naman nakakausap ‘yung mga sectors eh. Hindi nila nakakausap kaming mga producers. Paano ‘yung cost structure namin, hindi kinakausap ‘yung mga middlemen, anong cost structure nila. Hindi nila nakakausap mga retailers,” said San Diego.
“‘Yun ang isang pinakamalaking problema namin. ‘Yung increasing feed cost. Dati mga P14 to P16 lang ‘yan, ngayon P24 to P25 per kilo,” he added.
The egg board said the average farmgate price of eggs is at P7.10. It is highest in the Ilocos region where it is at P7.83.
According to the Department of Agriculture (DA), the price of eggs is now at P9 each or P270 for every tray.
Marcos on Tuesday, Jan. 24, tasked Agriculture undersecretary Domingo Panganiban to meet with egg producers and traders to know the reason behind the increase despite enough supply in the market.
The President said the government was looking “to implement interventions to increase agricultural productivity and ensure the availability of nutritious food at affordable prices.”
“We determined that the increase in the price of eggs is not commensurate to the increase in production cost,” Marcos said.
“So we will have to have a look to see how to control that because we cannot explain almost one-half of the profit margin that we are seeing. We cannot attribute it to cost,” he added.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum, Sen. Cynthia Villar said she was informed by an agriculture party-list in Batangas that there was enough supply of eggs in the country.
“Sabi sa akin nung mga [taga-]Batangas ang dami nga nilang itlog, hindi nga mabili kaya ginawa nilang powdered egg, e tapos ngayon sasabihin may shortage ng egg?” said Villar, chairperson of the Senate agriculture, food, and agrarian reform committee.”Sabi nila avian flu daw, sabi nung party-list sa Batangas hindi daw. Hindi naman masyadong naapektuhan dahil sobra-sobra ang production,” she added.
Asked what could be happening in the prices of eggs right now, Villar responded: “Baka nagba-bad publicity sila para magmahal ang itlog.” (GMA Integrated News)
