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The prices of beef and pork are expected to increase soon because of
rising freight costs and the weakening peso, an organization of meat
importers warned on Friday.
Also on Friday, the government announced it is
preparing subsidies for poor families affected by surging food and
fuel prices.
Jun Lim, vice president of the Cold Chain
Association of the Philippines, said 90 percent of the beef supply
in the country are imported, mostly from Brazil, and usually used
for corned beef and tapa (processed beef).
The price of imported beef in January was $2.65
per kilo, and in May it was $4.50 per kilo. Pork was $1.90 a kilo in
January and $2.50 in May.
For now, the price of chicken is stable, because
most of the supply is produced locally, Lim said.
“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.
But once those stocks are depleted, [price increases] will hit the
consumers,” he explained.
Meat prices are expected to increase by August
or September as dealers will import starting July, Lim said.
Anthony Dizon, Cold Chain president, said, “We
are now looking at a possible scenario where the Philippines may
experience possible food supply shortage because of the fact that
historically, we have been import-dependent on the supply of certain
food inputs.”
To preempt the shortage problem, the Philippines
has to develop local industry that produces beef, pork, chicken and
other perishable foods, he said.
Subsidies for poor
Poor Filipino families are to get cash handouts
and subsidies worth up to P93.6 billion (about $2.1 billion) to help
tide them over rising food and energy prices, the government said,
also on Friday.
The package approved by President Gloria Arroyo
includes P2 billion in outright cash transfers, Finance Secretary
Margarito Teves said in a statement.
Some 23.5 million Filipinos, or the 26 percent
of the population who earn P67 a day or less, have been hardest hit
from high rice and petroleum prices, the government said earlier.
Economic growth had slowed to 5.2 percent in the
first three months while inflation spiked to a three- year high 8.3
percent in April and could reach 9.6 percent for May, the central
bank said Friday.
Aside from the straight doleouts, Teves said
President Arroyo also approved P1 billion in scholarship grants and
interest-free loans to poor students.
A billion pesos was also set aside for
“demand-side” conservation programs that include soft loans to
drivers of jeepneys, who wish to switch to cheaper and more
environment-friendly liquefied petroleum gas engines.
Teves said the government would use some P18.6
billion in windfall sales-tax revenues from high petroleum prices to
finance the doleouts, but the government would have to borrow some
P75 billion from loans offered by foreign governments.
The higher level of spending would likely result
in a budget deficit of less than 1 percent of the gross domestic
product (GDP) this year, he added.
He said Manila remained committed to achieve its
revenue target of P1.24 trillion this year.
“We must emphasize that the revenues from both
tax and non-tax sources are critical to support increased levels of
spending and sustain a high level of economic growth,” Teves said.
-- Ira Karen Apanay, Angelo S. Samonte and AFP
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