Philippines expands pork imports as Spain regains market access amid ASF pressure

PHILLIPINES – The Philippines produced 1.66 million metric tons (MT) of hogs in liveweight terms in 2025, a 2.7% decline from the previous year as African Swine Fever (ASF) continued to limit domestic swine output across several production regions.

As local supply remained constrained, pork imports surged to a record 851,760 MT, accounting for nearly half of the country’s total meat imports and increasing reliance on foreign shipments to meet consumer demand.

In response to rising pork prices and inflation concerns, the Philippine government issued Executive Order No. 116 in May 2026, raising the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) allocation for pork imports to 204,210 MT.

The latest livestock data showed that the country’s hog inventory stood at 8.79 million head, with backyard and smallholder farms accounting for 78.3% of the national herd, while commercial and semi-commercial producers accounted for the remaining 21.7%.

CALABARZON, which includes Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, remained the country’s largest hog-producing area with a swine population of 1.14 million head, while Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao ranked among the other leading production regions.

At the consumer level, pork remained the most widely consumed meat protein in the Philippines, with annual per capita intake estimated at approximately 15 kilograms.

Spain resumes access to Philippine pork market

Meanwhile, the Philippines has agreed to reopen its market to pork imports originating from ASF-free regions in Spain after previously imposing a nationwide restriction following the European country’s first reported ASF outbreaks in more than 30 years, according to Reuters.

Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas said the Philippines remained an important export destination for Spain’s pork sector as Madrid continued discussions with trading partners on adopting a regionalisation framework for ASF controls.

Under the regionalisation system, trade restrictions apply only to areas directly affected by the disease, rather than imposing countrywide restrictions, with China among the first non-European Union markets to recognise the approach.

Spain, the European Union’s largest pork producer, confirmed its first ASF cases in wild boar in November 2025 after infections were detected in Catalonia in the country’s north-eastern region near Barcelona.

Spanish authorities later recorded 51 ASF outbreaks, with 322 positive cases, concentrated across 13 municipalities, although officials said no commercial pig farms had been infected.

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