MANILA — Pork prices are expected to go down this month amid the downward trend in farmgate prices, said the Department of Agriculture.

This comes after Philippine Statistics Authority said pork is the highest contributor in February's inflation rate, which is at 2.1%.

"Kami nakikita namin yung presyo noong February could be the highest nung presyo and we can see na bababa. Yung last na agreement ng pag-uusap ng mga stakeholders sa hog industry, una na dapat bumaba yung presyo," said DA Spokesperson Asec. Arnel de Mesa.

(We're seeing that pork prices in February could be the highest, and it will start going down. The last agreement with the hog industry is that farmgate prices will also go down.)

"Within March, ay magkakaroon ng pagbaba ng presyo ng baboy. Kasi, yun nga, nagkaroon na ng agreements ang mga stakeholders ng hog industry that there should be reduction in prices," De Mesa said.

(Pork prices will decrease within March. We have agreed with stakeholders in the hog industry that there should be reduction in prices.)

The DA earlier said it was mulling to impose a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for pork.

No final announcements have been made regarding this so far, but the Philippine Statistics Authority says this could be helpful.

"We expect na kapag na implement ito, given other things constant, it can slow down inflation, pag na impose na ito, nakita natin yung impact dito ung MSRP for imported rice, so we expect for pork to have the same thing," said PSA Assistant Secretary Divina Gracia del Prado.

(We are expecting that once this is implemented, it can slow inflation down. We have seen its impact in imported rice and we are expecting the same thing for pork.)

Retailers said they have been severely affected as their sales suffer with elevated pork prices.

In Mega Q Mart in Quezon City, liempo remains above P480/kilo.

Meanwhile, overall inflation for the month of February is lower compared to the 2.9 percent the previous month, due to lower prices of rice, among others.