HOG and chicken egg production rose in the third quarter, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a report, the PSA said hog output rose 3.3% year on year to 450.9 thousand metric tons (MT) on a liveweight basis.
The top-producing region during the period was the Central Visayas with 67.66 thousand MT, followed by Calabarzon (59.81 thousand MT), Northern Mindanao (54.5 thousand MT), Central Luzon (46.16 thousand MT), and the Davao Region (36.16 thousand MT).
Central Luzon also reported a top growth rate, doubling its year-earlier total for hog production.
These regions accounted for 58.6% of the hog production during the period, the PSA said.
The national hog inventory declined 2.1% during the period to 9.86 million head, as of Sept. 30, the PSA said.
About 67.5% of hogs are grown by smallhold farms, with the remaining 29.2% and 3.3% accounted for by commercial and semi-commercial farms, respectively.
The average farmgate price of slaughtered hogs dropped 6.1% year on year to P163.34 per kilogram.
Meanwhile, the PSA also reported a 4.7% year-on-year increase in chicken egg output for the period to 185.26 thousand MT.
The top chicken egg-producing region was Calabarzon with 58.53 thousand MT, or 31.6% of national output.
This was followed by Central Luzon (34.11 thousand MT), Northern Mindanao (20.14 thousand MT), the Central Visayas (18.96 thousand MT), and the Western Visayas (10.55 thousand MT).
The leading regions accounted for 76.8% of the national chicken egg total.
As of Sept. 30, the layer flock was about 71.18 million birds, up 5.4% from a year earlier.
The average farmgate price for chicken egg rose 15.3% year on year to P7.45 each. — Adrian H. Halili