PH Pork Imports Predicted to Rise Almost 20%

The pork imports of the Philippines are predicted to increase by almost 20% by this year as diseases like African swine fever still pose a threat to the local hog population, based on the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s the most recent report.

In their report called “Food Outlook,” the data from FAO showed that the pork imports of the country are expected to hit 394,000 metric tons (MT) this 2022, which is an 18% increase from the predicted 332.000 MT bought in 2021.

FAO estimates that the local output for 2022 will not be sufficient to meet the demands of local requirements for pork.

The FAO report states that pork production will fall behind the expected domestic pork requirement this year. The decline would be as much as 4% or 1.139 million metric tons (MMT). The predicted domestic pork requirement is pegged at 1.531 MMT.

“World meat production in 2022 is forecast to expand, albeit moderately, with expected production growth slowdowns in the pig and poultry meat sectors, reflecting animal disease prevalence and producer margin erosion,”  mentioned FAO.

The report also specifies that the Philippines will still import large quantities of dairy and rice. FAO estimated that imported rice purchases would hit 3.3 MMT. For 2023, FAO predicts that the Philippines will lessen its rice imports by 300,000 MT.

For dairy items, the report specified that the imports for 2022 would hit 2.91 MMT, which is 13% higher than last year’s figures of 2.56 MMT.

“Global trade in dairy products in 2022 is forecast at 85 million tons (in milk equivalents), down by 3.4 percent from 2021, which would represent the first decline in nearly two decades,”  mentioned the report.

Source: Business Mirror