Amid the increasing price of hog meat due to cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the country, the Department of Agriculture is monitoring the high prices of pork in markets.

During the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon interview, Assistant Agriculture Secretary Arnel de Mesa said that the price of pork meat should not increase as high as 400 pesos a kilo.

"The prevailing prices for kasim (pork shoulder) it around P335 to P340, it is 5 to 10 pesos higher than the previous days and week but it's not too high; liempo (pork belly) the prevailing price is still around P380 but we monitor prices of more the P400 in some markets and we are looking into this right now," he said.

"The farmgate (price) is not so high; it is just a little over P200. So if we were going to add P100, that is our benchmark so it should only be at the price of P320/P330 which is the correct price for kasim," he added.

As the DA emphasized how ASF affected the local hog sector, data showed that from a record-high year-end inventory of 12.8 million heads of pigs in 2020, the number had fallen to 9.94 million and 9.43 million in 2021 and 2022, respectively with most of the reduction coming from smallholders whose inventory dropped to 7.18 million in 2022 from a high of 9.44 million in 2020. “

"At the end of September last year, total inventory declined to 9.86 million heads from 10.1 million in the same period in 2022," it stated. Robina Asido/DMS