Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. announced that there will be no maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for local pork while the hog industry continues its repopulation efforts due to African swine fever (ASF) in the country. This decision follows the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) lifting of the pork MSRP on May 15, which was requested by pork industry stakeholders to allow time for recovery.
The previous MSRP was set at PHP380 per kilogram for “liempo” (belly), PHP350/kg for “kasim” (ham) and pigue, and PHP300/kg for “sabit-ulo.” Tiu Laurel explained that an MSRP cannot be implemented due to the “short supply” of local pork. He noted that current elevated retail prices may decrease once cheaper alternatives become available.
“Normally, ang kailangan mong gawin, huwag na nating hatawan ng MSRP ang (what should be done is, not to put MSRP on) local producer. And just give us cheaper alternative to the consumer and it will pull down their price automatically,” he stated.
To address logistics costs, the DA plans to sell cheaper local pork in Kadiwa ng Pangulo (KNP) centers and other accredited sites starting in August. As of June 13, local pork prices remain high, with ham priced between PHP350/kg to PHP430/kg and pork belly between PHP380/kg to PHP490/kg.
In contrast, Tiu Laurel confirmed that the DA will impose MSRP on frozen imported pork due to concerns that some traders are mislabeling frozen imported pork as “local” and selling it at higher prices. He indicated that the MSRP for imported pork will be slightly higher due to additional refrigeration costs required to maintain quality.
“We have additional cost sa trade, yelo… Kasim should be siguro (in trade, ice… Kasim should be perhaps around) PHP270 to PHP300. Liempo, PHP300 to PHP350 maximum,” Tiu Laurel added.