Philippines-Pork inports.

PHILIPPINES PORK IMPORTS.

Pork imports by the Philippines grew 38 percent last year, according to a report released by United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service,(FAS).

The Department noted that the Philippines imported 109.366 million kilograms of pork products from various sources in 2008, or 38 percent more than what the country imported a year earlier.

"While imports were mostly pork fats and rind for processing, there were also large increases in the importation of various cuts such as hams and shoulders and pork bellies," said FAS.

Twenty-nine percent of the Philippines’ pork imports were from Canada, and 27 percent from the US. FAS noted that the US nearly tripled to 29,575 metric tons (MT) or 29.57 million kilos, from 10,351 MT or 10.35 million kilos.

The Philippine Department of Agricultre has allowed 54,210 MT into the country under the Minimum Access Volume scheme for 2008. Of the volume, importers accounted for 58 per cent compared with 19 percent in 2007. In-quota imports of pork products have a lower tariff of 30 percent.

Citing figures from the Philippine Bureau Animal Statistics, FAS said that the Southeast Asian country had 13.6 million heads of pigs as of last January. Of these, 71 percent were counted in backyard farms and 29 percent in commercial farms.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI) in the Philippines was disappointed by the report that imported pork products have increased significantly last year.

"The imports are increasing annually. This is not good for the [local] hog industry. I hope [importers] will patronize Philippine products instead of imported ones," NFHFI president Albert Lim, Jr. said in a telephone interview.

Lim said that if only local users would patronize Philippine pork products, hog raisers would be encouraged to expand their production capacities. This, he said, would improve farm gate prices and raise the incomes of hog raisers.