The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas (DFA 6) is looking forward to more markets for hog raisers in the region with the reopening of the economy.

“Hopefully with the opening up of the economy, our usual market which is Boracay and Iloilo City will increase also their demands for pork products,” Engr. Remelyn Recoter, regional executive director of DA 6, said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Currently, growers in the region are enjoying the high buying price of live hogs at PHP150 to PHP170 per kilo. This, she said, they were unable to enjoy in the past years.

The highest buying price for live hogs is in Antique at PHP170 a kilo that triggered the market price of pork to hit PHP270 a kilo.

As of the first quarter of the year, the hog population in Western Visayas reached over one million, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) inventory.

So far the region has shipped around 75,000 heads to Luzon while last year, around 70,000 live heads were shipped out of Western Visayas.

“The supply deficit in Manila due to the ASF (African swine fever) was seen as an opportunity for those in the green zones (ASF-free areas) to ship out their products,” she added.

However, they are anticipating that with the arrival of the importation, there will be a reduction of shipment to Manila, Recoter said.

Hog stocks in the region are also expected to increase with the repopulation programs to be launched by the DA and the local breeders.