ILOILO City – The prices of live weight hogs and pork are increasing.
The regional average price of pork in public markets is now P300 from the previous P280 to P290 per kilo, according to Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 6’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division chief Maria Teresa Solis.
The price of live weight hogs also increased to between P165 and P170 per kilo.
“This is good news for hog growers but bad news for consumers,” said Solis.
African Swine Fever (ASF) continues to be the reason for the increase in prices.
“Gamay ang aton supply (but) taas ang demand. Siyempre mataas ang presyo,” said Solis.
Aside from thousands of swine depopulated due to hog infection, there are piggeries or hog growers who have stopped raising pigs.
To mitigate the impact of ASF, Solis said the DA, through its livestock program, has extended financial assistance to hog raiser associations or cooperatives that will engage in swine production as part of the rehabilitation of the swine industry.
Solis, however, noted there also some hog farmers who tried raising hogs again as they observed that it is already safe.
Nevertheless, Western Visayas continues to ship or supply swine to Luzon, specifically coming from green zone or ASF-free areas in the region such as Antique and parts of Aklan and Iloilo.
“Halos everyday nagapadala kita,” said Solis.
Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry Region 6 showed a total of 31,859 heads of live hogs were shipped to Luzon, including Metro Manila, from January to April 17 this year.
In 2022, the region delivered a total of 272,355 hog heads in Luzon./PN
