Philippine beef, pork price set to rise
Sunday, 1 June 2008
MANILA, May 31 (AFP): Philippine consumers already battling to cope with record rice and fuel prices can expect to pay more for beef and pork, media reports said Saturday.
Beef and pork prices have already doubled this year and with rising oil prices, increasing freight costs and a weakening peso, are set to rise again, an importers group told The Manila Times newspaper.
Jun Lim, vice president of the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines, told the paper 90 per cent of the country's beef supply is imported, mostly from Brazil.
The price of imported beef in January was 2.65 dollars a kilo, and in May it was 4.50 dollars a kilo. Pork was 1.90 a kilo in January and 2.50 in May, the paper said.
"For now, the price of chicken is stable, because most of the supply is produced locally," Lim told the paper.
"The reasons why the effect is not yet felt immediately, a lot of what is being sold in the market today are meats that came in two to three months ago and were in storage," he said.
"But once those stocks are depleted, price increases will hit the consumers."
Beef and pork prices have already doubled this year and with rising oil prices, increasing freight costs and a weakening peso, are set to rise again, an importers group told The Manila Times newspaper.
Jun Lim, vice president of the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines, told the paper 90 per cent of the country's beef supply is imported, mostly from Brazil.
The price of imported beef in January was 2.65 dollars a kilo, and in May it was 4.50 dollars a kilo. Pork was 1.90 a kilo in January and 2.50 in May, the paper said.
"For now, the price of chicken is stable, because most of the supply is produced locally," Lim told the paper.
"The reasons why the effect is not yet felt immediately, a lot of what is being sold in the market today are meats that came in two to three months ago and were in storage," he said.
"But once those stocks are depleted, price increases will hit the consumers."