The Philippines will suspend imports of nine kinds of pork products for 60 days from 24 November, a provisional safeguard ordered by the Department of Agriculture on Monday to lift the prices paid to its hog farmers, which the government blames on large volumes of imported meat.
The suspension covers fresh, chilled and frozen pig carcasses and half carcasses, bone-in hams, shoulders and cuts, and fresh, chilled and frozen edible offal and liver, the newspaper Philstar reported.
It follows an investigation in which the department said it found prima facie evidence that surging imports were a "substantial cause of serious injury to local hog raisers" and that any delay "could result in irreparable damage to the industry".
By the department's figures, pork imports rose 42% to 836,239.91 tonnes in 2025 from 589,674.59 tonnes in 2023, and made up 61% of the country's pork supply in 2025, against 39% in 2021. The self-sufficiency ratio fell to 65.5% from 74.3% over the same years. "Excessive imports and frozen stock buildups caused farmgate prices to collapse in 2026," the department said.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr told a news conference that the suspension could be extended depending on the sector's needs, particularly the prices paid for pork, which are currently below production costs, Valor International reported.
The measure also matters to exporters outside Asia. The Philippines has become one of the United Kingdom's biggest pork markets outside the EU and China: HMRC data summarised by AHDB show the UK shipped just over 4,000 tonnes of fresh and frozen pork and 9,400 tonnes of offal there in the first eight months of this year.
The report was written by Alistair Driver, editor of Pig World.
Photo: Judgefloro / Wikimedia Commons (CC0). The picture shows pork on sale at a market in Dingalan, Aurora, Philippines.
Source: Pig World
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