The Department of Agriculture on Sunday assured Filipinos that there is "more than enough" supply of pork in the country following reports that the domestic stockpile had marginally decreased in the fourth quarter.

DA deputy spokesperson Rex Estoperez reiterated in a radio interview that there is "no pork shortage, especially with the upcoming Christmas season."

Estoperez explained that frozen meat vendors are reluctant to release their stock in large quantities because customers prefer to purchase fresh meat.

"It depends if the sellers prefer frozen meat or fresh meat. But, we don't have a pork shortage, especially now that Christmas is approaching," Estoperez said in Filipino.

In another interview last week, he said officials of the Bureau of Animal Industry brushed aside concerns over the country's meat stockpile.

"I already talked with BAI, and they clarified that while we have 95 percent sufficiency in local pork production, the five percent is very insignificant," Estoperez said.

The farmers' organization Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura claimed this week that pork prices in some wet markets in Metro Manila have increased, ranging from P155 to P175 per kilogram.

However, the cost of pork products in some Metro Manila wet markets has been noted to have increased to as high as P300 per kilo.

The DA said government is now focused on increasing live hog production in the nation after six districts were affected by the African swine flu.

During a Laging Handa press briefing last week, Dr. Samuel Castro, in charge of African swine fever prevention measures, said pig farms that had been hit by ASF should ensure their hogs under a high level of biosecurity.