The Department of Agriculture (DA) is stepping up measures to assist local pork producers, who continue to face depressed farmgate prices due to rising imports. Speaking at the Tuesday Club Breakfast Forum in Mandaluyong City, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. assured stakeholders the agency is exploring every legal option to ease market pressure on domestic hog raisers.
While a safeguard duty on imported pork is already under study, current import levels have not yet reached the 25 percent trigger point needed to activate the measure. Imports rose by roughly 6 to 7 percent from last year to this year, so the threshold has not been met. Secretary Tiu Laurel noted the agency is now looking at alternative ways to limit pork inflows for a limited period.
One key proposal being examined is a temporary pause on issuing Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearances, or SPSICs, for selected pork products including kasim, liempo, pigue, jowls, and whole pigs. The measure could take effect as early as November and would last between 30 to 60 days, applying only to shipments not yet paid for or not yet arrived, to avoid disrupting existing business commitments. The DA is currently waiting for legal advice from its internal teams before proceeding, ensuring any action taken is fully within the law.
The department also reiterated its support for the industry’s proposed P210 per kilogram floor price for live hogs, even though it cannot legally enforce such a price at this time. Current farmgate prices range widely across areas, with some producers receiving as little as P120 to P160 per kilogram. The DA explained the proposed figure remains an industry-backed target rather than a mandatory cap, since no existing law gives the agency authority to set such a price, and any presidential price cap would require its own formal legal process.
As of October 20, DA price monitoring in select Metro Manila markets shows pork ham selling at P300 per kilogram, pork belly at P370 per kilogram, frozen kasim at P240 per kilogram, and frozen liempo at P300 per kilogram.
