City vet says consumers eating more chicken than pork
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 12:37:00 04/09/2008
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Are consumers shifting from pork to chicken and goat meat?
Dr. Alice Utlang, Cebu City veterinarian, said Tuesday that data from the animals slaughtered at the Cebu City abattoir would indicate the shift of customers to goat and chicken meat.
She said that in the first quarter of the year, the number of slaughtered chicken reached 175,711 compared to last year's 52,908.
Goat slaughtered at the abattoir also increased from January to March this year from 6,357 to 9,185.
Less hogs were slaughtered at the abattoir in the same period this year with 21,277 hogs compared to last year's 25,446 hogs.
Utlang said lechon (roasted pig) dealers told her that most of their hog suppliers shifted some of their supply to Manila, which is experiencing a scarcity of pork after hog farms in Bulacan, the biggest supplier of hogs in Metro Manila, were affected by hog cholera.
The dealers said these could have caused the prices of pork to go up.
A kilo of pork now costs P140 to P150.
Utlang said that Cebu is importing hogs from other provinces, such as Siquijor, Bohol, Masbate, Negros, and Mindanao, because piggery farms here could not cope with the demand.
Camotes and Mantalungon and Barili towns in supply hogs in Cebu.
Utlang, however, expects the supply of hogs to increase next month once the enrollment of classes starts.
"The hog farmers are still not selling their hogs to make it bigger so that they sell it for a higher price. The money of the sales will be used for their children's enrollment," Utlang said in Cebuano.
In Mandaue City, Market Administrator Rene Gascon, head of the price monitoring team, said that price of pork increased from P10 to P15.
When checked with the Mandaue Market on Tuesday, prices for a kilo of pork belly and pork chops were pegged at P150 compared to P140 last month. Pork thigh is priced at P120 per kilo compared to P100 per kilo in the previous months.
Gascon said that the rise of pork prices was gradual for a period of two months.
A meat vendor said that the prices of pork started to go up at around the end of January.
Gascon said that they have already started putting up of price billboards yesterday for rice and corn indicating the lowest price so that the consumers and the vendors will be warned of any unjustifiable price schemes from some stalls.
“For example, if we put the price of pork at P150 at the billboard, the consumers can complain to us if they see unreasonable prices higher than the ones we posted (which is the lowest price available),” Gascon said. “We, however, cannot stop or control the rise of prices because it (prices and costs) is not for us to determine.” /Correspondent Chris A. Ligan with a report from Reporter Dale G. Israel
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