Meat imports up 12.6% as swine fever lingers

The country’s meat imports surpassed the 1-billion kilogram (kg) mark in September as the African swine fever (ASF) continued to decimate local supply.

The country imported 1.04 billion kg of meat during the nine-month period, based on data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). The number is 164.33 million kg short of reaching full-year 2023’s volume of 1.2 billion kg.

READ: DA set to vaccinate pigs in ASF-free areas

The end-September figure was also 12.6 percent higher than the 923.16 million kg of imported meat recorded in the same period last year.

“[The increase] is not significant because so many pigs died,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in an industry event in San Juan City last week. “It’s only right that imports increased because local pork supply decreased,” he told reporters.

Tiu Laurel said in General Santos City, for instance, only 1.8 million out of 8 million pigs survived because of the ASF outbreak.

Pork imports comprised nearly half of the total with 517.86 million kg, a 12.9-percent increase from last year’s 458.7 million kg. Traders purchased mostly pork cuts and offals.

Chicken remained second with 345.86 million kg, up by 6.4 percent from 324.98 million kg. Most of these were mechanically deboned, or those used in manufacturing hotdogs, patties and sausages.

Beef came next with 144.02 million kg, mostly beef cuts, rising by 35 percent from 106.68 million kg.

The country also purchased imported buffalo, duck, lamb and turkey during the period.