The country’s meat imports from January to July rose by 11 percent year-on-year to over one million metric tons (MT), driven largely by increased pork shipments that are piling pressure on the local hog industry.

According to data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), total meat imports during the first seven months of the year reached 1.02 million MT, up from 919,827 MT in the same period in 2025.

Pork imports accounted for 53 percent of total meat shipments, reaching 541,405 MT, a more than 10-percent increase from the 490,825 MT recorded a year ago.

Purchases of pork cuts totaled 233,115 MT, or 43 percent of overall pork imports. Other pork shipments included offal at 162,745 MT, bellies at 77,444 MT, and fat at 43,991 MT.

The Philippines relies on imported pork to bridge the gap between growing consumer demand and local output, which continues to recover from African swine fever (ASF).

However, the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. (ProPork) argued that an overreliance on foreign purchases only exacerbates the struggles of domestic swine farmers.

ProPork President Erik Harina said this year’s current import volume is already on top of around 800,000 MT of imported pork that had not been sold by the end of last year.

While domestic production as of July has now reached about 500,000 MT, or more than half of last year’s output, Harina said the local industry remains dwarfed by imported products.

“We can't stop importing because we have manufacturing industries that need special cuts that are imported. But we should limit the volume based on the demand and local production, we should balance it so that the local industry won't be affected,” he told reporters.

To reduce import volume, ProPork is calling for the reinstatement of the original tariff rates under the minimum access volume (MAV) for pork imports.

Under the MAV system, imported pork within the quota of 204,210 MT is subject to a 15-percent tariff, while out-of-quota shipments are slapped with a higher 25-percent rate.

ProPork is recommending raising the in-quota tariff to 30 percent, while the tariff for imports outside the quota should be raised to 40 percent.

The industry group is also pushing the government to further ramp up vaccination against ASF, while it urges consumers to prioritize buying fresh pork.

BAI data also showed that the country’s chicken shipments reached 335,669 MT from January to July, up by nearly 15 percent from 292,609 MT in the same period last year.

Imports of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) accounted for 58 percent of chicken purchases with a volume of 195,370 MT. Chicken MDM serves as a key ingredient in the production of processed foods such as hotdogs.

Meanwhile, beef imports declined slightly to 110,570 MT by the end of July, compared with 110,948 MT in the previous year.

In terms of buffalo meat, the country’s imports surged by more than 43 percent to 35,563 MT from last year’s 24,808 MT.

For imports of other protein sources, duck shipments stood at 845 MT, lamb at 674 MT, and turkey at about 42 MT.

According to BAI, Brazil remained the top supplier of meat products in the first seven months, with a volume of 491,199 MT or 48

percent of the total imports.

The United States was the second leading source with 127,381 MT, followed by Australia with 54,107 MT, the Netherlands with 49,303 MT, and Canada with 46,801 MT.