No pork prices above P400/kilo? DA to set max SRP by March

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DA spokesman Arnel de Mesa says P380/kilo of pork is what's 'reasonable'

MANILA, Philippines – After setting a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) on imported rice, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is now eyeing the implementation of a maximum SRP for pork by March.

“The same na naging strategy with rice, ‘yun din ‘yung magiging strategy with pork,” said DA spokesman Arnel de Mesa on Monday, February 17.

“Na malaman natin na dapat ganito lamang yung presyo, so ‘pag naglatag tayo ng MSRP, susunod sila, at maiwasan ‘yung sobrang profiteering, o sobrang paglalagay ng mataas na presyo.”

(The strategy with pork is the same with the strategy with rice. We will know how much the price should be, so when we set the MSRP, retailers will follow and we will avoid profiteering or putting up high prices.)

De Mesa said they are set to issue the MSRP by March.

In a Malacañang briefing last February 10, DA chief Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. had said that “anything above P400/kilo is unreasonable.”

Tiu Laurel said then that the MSRP for pork was already discussed with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

As of February 15, pork belly prices ranged from P380 to as high as P480 in Metro Manila. Frozen kasim and frozen liempo had lower prices, averaging at P255.83 and P312.44, respectively.

What would be reasonable is P380/kilo, said De Mesa.

“Kung ang farm gate mo P250, so ‘yung nababangit nga na P100, P100-plus na profit margin, so P380 is reasonable,” the spokesman said. (If your farm gate price is P250, and then you take into account a profit margin of P100 or more, so P380 is reasonable.)

The DA is currently studying how the government can sell more affordable pork and chicken, according to De Mesa. Currently, the DA sells cheaper, well-milled rice through Kadiwa centers under their Rice-for-All program. – Rappler.com