BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The price of pork in Negros Occidental has increased – now running as high as P300 a kilo, with P220 being the cheapest.
The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO), however, said the price hike could not be attributed to dwindling supply.
Its chief, Renante Decena, said there is no problem with supply; the province is in fact shipping out excess pork to neighboring Iloilo province, Luzon and other areas in the country.
Decena traced the price increase to the hike in the price of feeds and the raw materials needed for feed production such as sunflower oil, soy beans and corn oil.
He also cited the incessant increases in the price of fuel. Just this Tuesday, the price of fuel jumped for the 11th time this year – about P12 more per liter for diesel and around P7 more for gasoline. This, in turn, is being blamed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Decena said Ukraine is one of the world’s primary producers of sunflower oil – a raw material in making feeds.
Sunflower is the national flower of this former Soviet republic.
The eastern European country is also a well-known producer of soy beans.
According to Decena, their weekly monitoring of other meat products showed that even the price of carabeef has increased by P3.49; is it now running at P295 a kilo.
Beef products, meanwhile, are now running at P302 per kilo, a P1.98 increase.
Pork price is averaging at P264 per kilo, a price increase of P4.49; while dressed chicken is running at P200 per kilo, a price hike of P1.74.
Decena added that the P300 pork price is currently being monitored in the cities of Talisay and San Carlos, and the town of Hinigaran, while P220 pork price was monitored in the town of Ilog./PN