Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said he plans to impose a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) on pork as early as March to address the excessive gap between farm-gate and retail prices.

Laurel said pork retailers attribute the high prices to factors such as agents, gasoline, labor, slaughtering, and farm-gate prices.

“Pag-aaralan namin sa DA 'yung buong value chain para ma-analyze mabuti (We will study the entire value chain at the DA to analyze it thoroughly)," he said during a market monitoring session with the Department of Trade and Industry on Wednesday.

He added that the MSRP on pork could be introduced by March, but it will depend on the data and information they gather regarding the reasons behind the rise in pork prices.

Based on the Department of Agriculture’s latest monitoring, the average prices for pork ham and pork belly per kilo are P382.23 and P435, respectively.

Meanwhile, frozen kasim averages P253.56 per kilo, and frozen liempo averages P311.33 per kilo.

The DA earlier said it is conducting a thorough analysis of the pork value chain, stressing that if profiteering is identified, it will not hesitate to institute an MSRP for the meat.