DA assures pork imports won't displace local producers

An executive order allowing the importation of up to 5,000 metric tons of pork in the next two months will not displace local pork producers, an Agriculture Department official has assured. In a radio interview, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup said the pork to be imported will be aimed primarily at fast-food outlets and “institutional buyers" while local producers will still supply meat to wet markets. “Yung special importation mapunta lang sa institutional buyers. Ang wet market requirement mapupuno ng local producers (The pork to be imported will go to institutional buyers. Local producers will continue to supply pork to wet markets)," Salacup said in an interview on dzXL radio. He also said they will make sure the pork to be imported, usually from North America, will be free from foot-and-mouth disease. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order 875 allowing the importation of 5,000 metric tons of pork in the next two months to stabilize domestic prices. The EO allowed the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) to import the meat “to ensure continuous access of the less fortunate sectors, especially those in depressed areas, to basic food items." Salacup said the EO stemmed from meetings between the DA and pork producers, who suffered from tropical cyclones “Ondoy" (Ketsana) and “Pepeng" (Parma) in 2009, and from diseases that hit some hog farms in 2008. He also said major pork producers do not expect they could normalize their production capacity until July or August. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV