Manila, April 2 -- The pilot test of pork sale partnership between the Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) and the local unit of Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CP Foods) started in Metro Manila on Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

This came after the FTI, a state-owned firm under DA, and CP Foods signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on March 28 to help tame spiking pork prices.

Under the pilot program, CP Foods will supply 100 live hogs per day to a slaughterhouse in Caloocan, where other distributors and viajeros can "directly" access the supply instead of transporting them from various farms.

"Actually, magsisimula ngayong araw, i-pilot test iyong programa ng FTI at CP na kung saan iyong si CP, siya magdadala direct...