THE suggested retail price (SRP) for pork sold in Metro Manila was raised to P230-P250 per kilogram, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
In an administrative circular, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said the new SRP for pigue/kasim products is P230 per kilo while the price for pork belly, or liempo, was set at P250.
The previous SRPs were P190 for pigue/kasim and P225 for liempo.
In a virtual briefing Thursday, DA spokesman Noel O. Reyes said the change reflects the higher costs of hog raising.
“The farmgate prices of pork products and production costs have increased,” Mr. Reyes said.
The pork supply, already under strain from African Swine Fever, could be coming in for more pressure after researchers recently discovered a new strain of swine flu in China named G4.
In a study published in the US science journal PNAS, researchers said the new strain genetically descended from H1N1, which caused a pandemic in 2009 with the potential to infect humans.
Mr. Reyes said the newly discovered strain has not yet arrived in the Philippines. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
