Cebu’s Hog Surplus Crisis: Why Prices are Plummeting and Farms are Suffering

Cebu is posting a huge surplus of hogs due to the restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) in response to the supposed African Swine Fever infection in the province.

The surplus amounts to between 5,000 and 6,000 pigs per month since traders are only allowed to sell within Cebu Island and are prohibited from exporting to other areas of the country.

The surplus however is causing a huge problem for both backyard and commercial farms since the prices of the pigs have also dropped.

“The prices at the farm gate are dropping a lot,” said Jonathan Young, President of the Central Visayas Pork Producers Cooperative.

The restrictions were imposed by the BAI on March 1, 2023.

When purchasing a live hog, the animal is weighed and priced per kilo. The prices of live hogs purchased on farms have dropped from P170 per kilo to only P140 per kilo due to the surplus.

This translates to over a thousand pesos in losses per head for each pig sold from the farms.

Before the restrictions, live hogs and other pork-related products from Cebu used to be sold to the Luzon market, Eastern Visayas region, and some parts of Mindanao.

“Some markets have restricted us. For example in our markets in Leyte and Samar. Because of the declaration of BAI that we are red zone in Cebu, some towns and provinces have closed their borders to Cebu,” Young said in an interview.

In the Camotes Group of Islands in Cebu, the pig farm owners have also raised the same problem.

The four mayors of the towns of Pilar, Poro, San Fransisco, and Tudela have signed a manifesto to appeal to both Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominco Petilla and Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez to allow the entry of pork products from their towns.

The manifesto was signed by mayors Manuel Santiago of Pilar, Edgar Rama of Poro, Alfredo Arquillano Jr of San Fransisco, and Greman Solante of Tudela.

The mayors highlighted that the Camotes Island Group has reported zero cases of ASF and is isolated from the Cebu mainland.

Ormoc City and Leyte is the primary market for Camotes’ hog industry since transportation is much nearer compared to Cebu mainland.

Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia is calling on all governors and mayors in the entire country to join hands in putting an end to the “ineffective” policies of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) regarding the handling of African Swine Fever.

Garcia was in Camotes for several activities on Thursday, June 8.

She expressed that these BAI policies have caused tremendous losses in the local hog industry, not only in Cebu but throughout the entire country, mainly due to restrictions and pig culling.

She said that these policies have been in place for four years in the Philippines, yet there seems to be no end to the ASF infection.

The hog population in Cebu Island is approximately 613,930, with 45 percent coming from backyard farms and the remaining from commercial farms.

The Provincial Government of Cebu has reiterated that there have been no massive deaths of pigs, despite the BAI declaring the province as ASF-infested.