An increase in the prices of pork products is likely to happen following the presence of the African swine fever in the country, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Thursday.
He said the producers of some brands had been requesting an increase in the prices of their pork products.
“There are requests to increase prices, and an increase is possible,” Lopez told GMA News Online.
Meanwhile, the government in Iloilo City has imposed a 90-day ban on the entry of live pigs, hog carcasses, pork, pork products, and by-products coming from any country found positive for African swine fever.
READ: Ilocos bans pigs, pork, by-products
Executive Order 99, signed by Mayor Jerry Treñas on Oct. 9, 2019, totally bans the entry of similar products coming from countries that are positive for ASF.
Lopez said the real problem was the possible decline in the supply of pork products in the country because some producers were reducing their output.
Producers were expecting a drop in pork demand as consumers were avoiding buying pork products, he said.
Baka magbawas ng supply kasi nga kaunti naman yung demand ngayon na ine-expect. Alam mo naman ang mga tao ngayon, umiiwas sa pork,” Lopez said.
Ina-assure naman namin sila na hindi sila mag-alangan o umiwas” because ASF was not harmful to humans.
A vendor in Barangay Toro in Quezon City was arrested for selling pork meat purchased from the ASF-infected Barangay Payatas.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said the ASF situation in her area had “reached a bit of a crisis.”
In a bulletin on Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture said 12,000 pigs had so far tested positive of the ASF virus in Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga and Quezon City. With PNA
READ: Consumers, pork traders uneasy amid ASF scare
