MANILA – The Department of Trade and Industry will convene the National Price Coordinating Council within the week to ensure a steady supply of meat, rice and sugar in the market in light of the planned “meat holiday” by hog raisers.

Trade and Industry Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said the NPCC would meet this week to confirm inventory, production volume and prices of these basic commodities.

Maglaya said that prices of pork had remained stable at P170 to P180 per kilo but if the hog raisers would make good of its threat to declare a “meat holiday,” the government should be ready because it would take between 6 and 8 months to grow a pig before harvest.

Hog raisers have announced plans to hold a meat holiday to protest the alleged inaction from the Bureau of Customs on the entry of cheap imported meat, such as pork and chicken.

Prices of chicken have already gone up by P10 per kilo to a high of P30 from P110 and P120 per kilo but not because of the impact of meat holiday but because of the warm weather that had slowed down production.

The NPCC is also making an inventory of rice stocks because the lean season for rice starts from July to September.

“We want to have a confirmation that we have sufficient buffer for the lean season,” Maglaya said.

The price of sugar has gone up by P1 per kilo to P45 from P44, which had been the price for a long time.

Maglaya said that the Bureau of Fisheries would be represented in the meeting because prices of “tamban”, the fish use in sardines, have remained at P25 per kilo even after the ban on fishing “tamban” was lifted last March 1. Before the ban, price of “tamban” was at P22 per kilo.

The DTI had agreed to raise the prices of canned sardines by P1 per can when prices of “tamban” went up to P27 from P22 in late 2010 when the ban of fishing “tamban” was imposed.

With the lifting of the ban, the DTI also expected that prices of canned sardines would be rolled back by P1 per can. Prevailing prices of canned sardines are at P13.50 although a few are selling at P14.

Apparently, the prices of canned sardines remained high because the prices of “tamban” remained at P27 per kilo even after the lifting of the ban.

“If the price of fish goes back to P22 per kilo, then we expect a P1 rollback in prices of canned sardines,” Maglaya said. Prices of “galunggong” have gone down to P110 from P120 per kilo.

Prices of other agricultural products like vegetables, except for carrots, have remained stable or even at lower prices.*PNA

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