LIVE HOGS transported to Metro Manila are nearing 200,000 animals to ease the supply situation for pork in the capital and in support of price controls imposed on Feb. 8, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

The DA said hog deliveries totalled 198,231 since Feb. 8, after an additional 4,249 hogs arrived in Metro Manila on March 21.

Of the new arrivals, 2,433 hogs were from Cavite, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, while 1,040 were from Oriental Mindoro 340 hogs from Central Visayas, and 176 from Central Luzon.

Other areas that sent shipments were Davao with 140 hogs and Bukidnon with 120.

According to the DA, the regions that delivered the most hogs to date were Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) with 90,115 animals; Western Visayas with 35,622; and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) with 21,983.

The DA said Central Luzon delivered 42,160 kilograms of pork in carcass form on March 21. The new shipments brought the total carcass volume to 1.37 million kilograms since Feb. 8.

Pork supply has tightened due to an outbreak of African Swine Fever, which has sent prices higher and threatened another inflation crisis.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) No. 124 on Feb. 1 that imposed a price ceiling on pork and chicken retail prices.

EO 124, implemented a week after its signing to give the hog industry a grace period, capped the retail price of pork shoulder (kasim) at P270 per kilogram, pork belly (liempo) at P300 per kilogram, and whole chicken at P160 per kilogram.

The DA’s price monitoring report on Monday indicated that kasim prices ranged between P310 and P350 per kilogram in selected Metro Manila public markets, while liempo fetched P330-P400. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

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