Over 40 vans containing 3,707 live hogs, worth P38.5 million, are expected to arrive in Metro Manila from Western Visayas via the Oceanic Container Lines today.
“Today, the vessel will leave our international port in Loboc (Lapuz) and will arrive in Manila tomorrow,” Maria Teresa Solis, chief of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) of the Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas said in a phone interview yesterday.
Solis said that the pigs came from livestock auction markets in Panay, particularly in Sibalom, Antique and Leon, Iloilo, while others came from Aklan, Negros Occidental, and Capiz.
Backyard raisers bring their products to the auction markets while commercial traders already have a network with their counterparts in Metro Manila.
“We are one of the regions that are expected to send hogs to Luzon, especially that we are African swine fever-free,” she added.
Solis said that since there is an oversupply of hogs in Western Visayas, then the shipment to Manila will continue as long as there is supply and the prices are good.
Before the shipment, traders need to secure a shipping permit from the Bureau of Animal Industry Veterinary Quarantine Service.
The traders are also the ones arranging for transportation with Oceanic.
The shipment already has ready buyers upon their arrival in Manila.
A P15 per kilo transport subsidy will only be released to traders if they can present a document signed by the National Meat Inspection Service that the shipped hogs from Region 6 already reached Metro Manila slaughterhouses.
Public markets in Metro Manila are also linked with hog traders in the region.
On Feb. 15, Western Visayas also shipped 1,600 heads of swine to Metro Manila.
For this month alone, including Tuesday’s shipment, Western Visayas has already sent 12,364 heads of live hogs. Since last year, the region has been sending hogs to Manila.
From September to December, Western Visayas was the second region with the highest shipment bound for Manila.
The DA, in providing transport support to the shipment, seeks to ease the soaring prices of pork and pork by-products due to the outbreak of the ASF in Luzon.*PNA
