Nearly 400,000 live hogs have been shipped to Metro Manila markets from provinces with surplus of supplies since February 8 this year, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday.

On Thursday, 4,731 hogs and 28,203 kilograms of carcass were also delivered from various regions, bringing the total to 388,367 hogs and 2,687,731 kilograms (kg).

Western Visayas had the most number of deliveries with 1,570 hogs or 33 percent of Thursday’s total.

Calabarzon followed with 1,420 hogs from Batangas while Mimaropa sent 692 hogs from Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque.

Bicol Region also delivered 531 hogs from Sorsogon and Camarines Sur, Zamboanga Peninsula contributed 250 hogs from Zamboanga del Sur, and Northern Mindanao dispatched 245 hogs.

Central Luzon likewise delivered 23 hogs from Tarlac, on top of its 28,203 kilograms of carcass delivery, to augment the pork requirement of Metro Manila.

A report from National Meat Inspection Service showed that on Thursday alone, a total of 5,099 hogs were slaughtered and produced 342,407.23 kg of carcass, of which 51.52 percent were distributed within Metro Manila.

Delivery of hogs from various provinces to the National Capital Region (NCR) and other areas meet the demand for pork products as supply is affected by the outbreak of African swine fever.

After the price ceiling expired on April 8, the DA replaced it with the implementation of suggested retail prices.

Imported pork shoulder (kasim) retails at PHP270 per kilo, and imported pork belly (liempo) at PHP350 per kilo.

The DA monitored fresh kasim and liempo in 10 markets has average prices between PHP340 to PHP380 and PHP360 to PHP400, respectively.

Liempo is sold the cheapest in Western Visayas at PHP250 per kilo while kasim at the Zamboanga Peninsula is sold for the same price.

Meanwhile, the highest per kilo prices are in Calabarzon markets at PHP380 for liempo and PHP370 for kasim. (PNA)