The country’s frozen-pork inventory as of March 26 expanded by 88.78 percent to 23,852.88 metric tons (MT), from 12,634.95 MT recorded in the same period last year, data from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) showed.
Recent data published by the NMIS also showed that the latest frozen-pork inventory was 5.77 percent higher than the previous week’s 22,552.01 MT. However, it was 2.82 percent lower than the 24,546.28 MT recorded last month.
Of the total frozen-pork inventory as of March 26, 95.05 percent were imported, or 22,671.42 MT, while the remaining volume of 1,181.46 MT were produced locally.
During the reference period, the NMIS noted that cold storages in Region 3 held the most volume of frozen-pork inventory at 8,835.55 MT, which was 4.95 percent lower than the 8,418.5 MT recorded in the week of March 19.
The figure was 18.05 percent and 165.83 percent higher than the 7,484.76 MT and 3,323.7 MT recorded volume last month and last year, respectively.
The NMIS, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), said the frozen-pork inventory included carcass, primal and specialty cuts. The survey covered accredited commercial and in-house cold-storage facilities.
Data from the NMIS also showed that total dressed-chicken inventory held in cold storages as of March 26 declined by 1.84 percent to 16,417.44 MT, from the previous year’s 16,726.13 MT.
However, the figure was more than a third higher than the 12,122.44 MT recorded in the week of March 19. It was also slightly higher than the previous month’s 16,291.46 MT.
More than half of the total dressed-chicken inventory, or 9,487.27 MT, were imported. Imported dressed chicken in the country’s cold storages as of March 26 expanded by 31.69 percent from the 7,203.95 MT recorded a year ago.
The remaining volume was comprised of locally produced chicken at 6,930.17 MT.
The NMIS said the figures did not include fresh, chilled chicken and mechanically deboned meat, as well as those already in distribution channels. The agency also said the survey covered only accredited cold-storage facilities.
The government allows traders to import pork and chicken via the so-called minimum access volume scheme of the World Trade Organization. Pork and chicken imports within MAV are slapped a tariff of 30 percent and 40 percent, respectively.
Last year meat imports rose by nearly 7 percent to a record-high volume of 691,462.564 MT due to the growing demand of Filipino consumers for processed-meat products.
Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) indicated that pork accounted for 44.18 percent of meat imports. Last year pork imports expanded by 10.65 percent to 305,479.806 MT, from the 2016 record of 276,066.99 MT.
“Pork cuts, bellies and deboned meat constituted about 30.19 percent or [92,234.802 MT], which are mostly used by meat processors, while the 69.81 percent equivalent [213,245.044 MT] are commonly imported by meat traders, which includes fats, rind/skin and other products,” the BAI said.
Data from the BAI also showed that total chicken imports last year grew by nearly 4 percent to 244,104.419 MT, from the previous year’s 234,742.766 MT.