Prices of pork, potato down; highland vegetables' prices up

The prices of pork, potato and eggplant have gone down even after Typhoon Ineng lashed at provinces in Northern Luzon last week.

 

Department of Agriculture (DA) Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness Leandro Gazmin said that pork prices went down by P10 per kilogram.

 

Gazmin also said that the prices of potato and eggplant also went down by P10 kilogram.

 

The DA official, meanwhile, said that based on the monitoring of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service, the prices of galunggong and alumahan went up by P10 kilogram and P60 per kilogram, respectively.

 

He said the price adjustments "can be attributed to the sailing restrictions due to the typhoon."

 

Gazmin added that the prices of some vegetables also went up: cabbage by P70 per kilogram, carrots by P90 per kilogram and pechay Baguio by P40 per kilogram.

 

“These highland vegetables are prone to rotting; thus, changes in prices are always experienced during the rainy season,” Gazmin explained.

 

The DA added that the prices of lowland vegetables including tomato went up by P10 per kilogram and native pechay went up by P30 per kilogram.

 

Gazmin said the DA expects the prices of vegetables to normalize with the expected arrival in Metro Manila of 200 to 300 trucks, each loaded with an average of 3,000 kilograms of assorted vegetables, from the La Trinidad Trading Post.

 

The typhoon devastated several areas in Northern Luzon, particularly Baguio City in Benguet.

 

The government has estimated Ineng's damage to agriculture at more than P792 million. —ALG, GMA News