Pork demand during the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, Ghost Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival (June 2, August 10 and September 8 this year, respectively) is estimated to be enormous, and the Council of Agriculture (COA) must continue to stabilize the supply and price of this commodity, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said today.
The premier made these remarks after being briefed at today's Cabinet meeting by the COA on its implementation of measures to steady hog supply and marketing. He commended the council for its work and asked it to redouble its efforts in order to stabilize domestic pork consumption and demand. If necessary, after conducting careful appraisals it may initiate a tariff-lowering mechanism, he added.
The porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus that plagued piglets among hog farms in central and southern Taiwan has resulted in a supply shortage and pork price fluctuations, which have in turn affected the nation's overall commodity prices, Jiang pointed out. He instructed the COA to look after the interests of both hog farmers and the public by proactively assisting farmers to strengthen epidemic prevention and carry out autonomous management while implementing production and marketing adjustments to control total hog production volume. In the meantime, the COA should publicize its various measures to related industries and the general public to seek their support and collaboration, he added.
In order to ensure normal pork supplies and steady pork prices, the COA has implemented relevant adjustment measures such as withdrawing insurance on or terminating contracts with the owners of hogs and livestock that are overweight (thus indicating their owners have hoarded them instead of releasing them to the market in a timely fashion), strengthening random inspections of overweight hogs for foot-and-mouth disease antibody titers, improving relevant checks of hog farms that produce overweight hogs, conducting daily appraisals of pork supplies in meat markets coupled with real-time adjustments, and carrying out imports through the National Animal Industry Foundation (NAIF), which plans to release 485, 870 and 584 metric tons of frozen pork to the domestic market in August, September and October, respectively.
The COA pointed out that in light of the increased pork demand during the Dragon Boat Festival, it will adopt relevant supply and marketing adjustment measures, coordinating with Taiwan Sugar Corp. and other large-scale livestock-rearing enterprises to adjust their supply in order to meet consumer demand.
The COA will continue to monitor transactions and the supply and demand of hogs in meat markets as well as release inexpensive pork into the market through diverse channels. In the future, it and other relevant ministries and agencies will deliberate adjusting the types and proportions of meats served by group catering services during pork shortages. Additionally, the COA will coordinate the promotion and marketing of poultry as a substitute for pork to ease the strain on pork supplies.