Philippine pork production next year could reach 1.635 million metric tons (MMT), 3.15 percent higher than the projected output of 1.585 MMT for this year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In its report, titled “Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade”, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) attributed the increase in output to the improvement in the purchasing power of Filipinos.
“Robust consumer demand for pork will also boost output in Russia, the Philippines and Mexico,” the USDA-FAS said in its report published recently.
Local pork demand next year is forecasted to grow by 4.63 percent to 1.919 MMT, from the estimated 1.834 MMT this year, according to the USDA.
The USDA-FAS said imports would fill the gap in local pork supply next year. In 2018 pork imports may expand by 14 percent to 285,000 metric tons (MT), from the projected 250,000 MT this year, according to USDA data.
“Global exports are forecast nearly 3 percent higher in 2018 driven by strong demand from Mexico, the Philippines and South America [Argentina, Chile and Colombia] where competitive prices support gains in per-capita consumption,” the report read.
Data from the USDA showed that global pork exports next year could reach 8.484 MMT, 2.58 percent higher than the 8.271 MMT that would be traded this year.
The value of the local hog sector’s production at current prices rose by 12.09 percent to P113.7 billion in the first half of the year due to the increase in farm-gate price, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its report, titled “Swine Situation Report January-June 2017”, the PSA said the average farm-gate price of live hogs went up by nearly 11 percent to P104.55 per kilogram, from P94.22 per kg last year.
In terms of volume, the sector produced some 1.087 MMT of pork, slightly higher than the 1.076 MMT recorded in the first half of 2016.
“Growth in production was noted in the first quarter of 2017 at 3.5 percent, while a decrease was recorded in the second quarter of 2017 at 1.32 percent,” the report read.
Despite the increase in output, the Department of Agriculture (DA) was forced to allow the special importation of 7 million kilograms of pork slapped with a 30-percent tariff instead of the usual 40 percent. This covers only prime cuts of pork and not other parts, such as offal.
The DA approved the special importation to stabilize the price of pork in the domestic market.
Image credits: Bloomberg