A pig dresses out at roughly 72–78% of its liveweight, so a 100 kg live pig becomes about 72–78 kg of carcass. That single number is why a ₱150/kg liveweight price is not a ₱150/kg meat price, and why farmers who sell on a "dressed" basis without doing the math often lose ₱1,000 or more per pig without realizing it.
Most farming guides skip this entirely. They quote a liveweight price and stop. But the moment a trader says "dressed na lang ni, kuwentahon nato" (let's just compute it dressed), the conversation changes, and if you cannot run the conversion in your head you are negotiating blind.
Liveweight, Dressed Weight, and Meat Weight
Three different numbers, and people mix them up constantly:
- Liveweight (buhi, or LW): the live animal on the scale. This is what almost all farmgate price reporting refers to, and it is where the actual money changes hands. PSA's latest official figure is still Q2 2026 at ₱172.44/kg (June ₱171.76); July to September are not yet published. Since then the DA has said the national liveweight price fell to ₱150/kg in August 2026, against a cost of production of ₱180–₱190/kg. The ₱210/kg floor agreed on 4 November 2025 is an industry target the DA backs, not an enforceable price, and the national average has never hit it since it was set. A few regions have in some months: the Cordillera five, BARMM and Central Visayas two each, Metro Manila once. Treat ₱210 as a target, not a price you will be paid.
- Dressed / carcass weight: the body after slaughter, bleeding, and removing hair or skin, head (sometimes), feet, and most internal organs. In Philippine wet-market practice the "dressed" pig is usually the eviscerated carcass.
- Saleable meat weight: what is left after the butcher breaks the carcass into cuts and trims bone and excess fat. Always less than dressed weight.
Each step loses weight. The farmgate deal is almost always at liveweight. The wet market retail price you see on the liempo tray is meat weight, several handling steps and margins later. Confusing the two is how people convince themselves farmers are getting rich while pork is expensive. They are different numbers at different points in the chain.
Dressing Percentage in the Philippines
Dressing percentage is dressed weight divided by liveweight, as a percent. Under typical Philippine slaughter conditions:
| Pig type | Dressing % | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial / crossbred, 90–110 kg | 72–78% | Good muscle-to-bone ratio, finished properly |
| Lean or under-finished commercial | 70–73% | Less backfat and muscle fill |
| Native pig | 65–70% | More head, bone, and gut relative to muscle |
| Overweight (>120 kg) | up to 80% | More fat, which counts as carcass but the buyer discounts it |
pig333's reference on dressing percentage puts the global commercial range similar to this, with skin-on Philippine-style dressing usually landing in the 72–78% band. Use 75% as a working midpoint unless you know your buyer's exact method, since whether the head and skin stay on shifts the number by several points.
The Conversion, Both Directions
The two formulas you actually need:
- Liveweight kg to dressed kg: liveweight × dressing % = dressed kg
- Liveweight price to dressed-equivalent price: liveweight price ÷ dressing % = dressed price
Worked example. A 100 kg pig at ₱150/kg liveweight, the DA's national figure for August 2026 (PSA's last official quarter, Q2 2026, was higher at ₱172.44):
- Gross to you: 100 kg × ₱150 = ₱15,000 (this is the number that matters to you)
- Carcass it yields: 100 × 0.75 = 75 kg dressed
- Dressed-equivalent cost: ₱150 ÷ 0.75 = ₱200/kg dressed
So if a trader offers you "₱200/kg dressed," that sounds a lot higher than ₱150 but works out exactly the same. ₱200 × 75 kg = ₱15,000, the same as selling the pig on liveweight. That is the point: a dressed quote tells you nothing until you convert.
And notice there is no room left to lose. Producer groups put cost of production at ₱180–₱190/kg liveweight, so at ₱150 the average farm is already DOWN ₱3,000–₱4,000 on a 100 kg pig before anything goes wrong. Give away another ₱1,200 on a bad dressed-weight deal and you are deepening a loss you are already taking.
Liveweight to dressed yield table
| Liveweight | Dressed @ 72% | Dressed @ 75% | Dressed @ 78% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80 kg | 57.6 kg | 60.0 kg | 62.4 kg |
| 90 kg | 64.8 kg | 67.5 kg | 70.2 kg |
| 95 kg | 68.4 kg | 71.3 kg | 74.1 kg |
| 100 kg | 72.0 kg | 75.0 kg | 78.0 kg |
| 110 kg | 79.2 kg | 82.5 kg | 85.8 kg |
Liveweight price to dressed-equivalent price
| Liveweight price | Dressed-equivalent @ 72% | @ 75% | @ 78% |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₱150/kg (DA national, August 2026) | ₱208/kg | ₱200/kg | ₱192/kg |
| ₱172.44/kg (PSA, Q2 2026) | ₱240/kg | ₱230/kg | ₱221/kg |
| ₱185/kg (midpoint of the ₱180–₱190 cost of production) | ₱257/kg | ₱247/kg | ₱237/kg |
| ₱210/kg (industry floor target, rarely paid) | ₱292/kg | ₱280/kg | ₱269/kg |
This is the table to keep on your phone. When someone quotes you a dressed price, find the row and see what liveweight it really equals. If their dressed offer divided back out is below today's liveweight farmgate price, walk. And do not anchor on the ₱210 row. It is in there so you can see what the floor would be worth if your buyer actually paid it. The ₱185 row is roughly break-even: the midpoint of the ₱180–₱190 cost of production producer groups cite, not a price anyone is paying right now.
Where Farmers Get Shortchanged
The conversion math is simple. The losses come from the parts you do not see:
- Dressed-basis quotes you cannot verify. If the pig is weighed only after slaughter, at the buyer's place, on the buyer's scale, you have no way to check the dressing percentage they applied. A buyer claiming "70% lang ni" on a well-finished pig that should dress 76% pockets the difference. Six points on a 100 kg pig at ₱200/kg dressed is 6 kg, or ₱1,200.
- Shrink during hauling. A pig loses 2–5% of liveweight to gut fill and dehydration on the trip and during fasting before slaughter, more on a long hot Mindanao-to-Manila haul with no rest. If you are paid on weight taken after that trip, you absorbed the shrink. Agree who bears it before the truck leaves. The full freight-and-shrink breakdown is in the regional liveweight price guide.
- "Bara" / eyeball estimates. Some small-town deals still price by visual estimate or a heart-girth guess instead of a scale. That always rounds toward the buyer. Learn to estimate weight yourself with a tape so you can argue with a real number.
- Vague "dressed" definition. Skin-on or skinned? Head in or out? Each swings the percentage. Pin it down before agreeing on a price, not after the knife is out.
My position on this is not neutral: sell on liveweight, on a scale, in front of you. Dressed-weight deals hand the buyer control of a number you cannot see, and in practice that number moves against the farmer almost every time. If a trader insists on dressed, do not refuse outright, just convert their offer back to a liveweight-equivalent using the table above and compare it to what you would get selling live that week. Sometimes it is fine. Often it is not. The point is you check.
Does This Mean the Butcher Is Greedy?
Worth answering, because it comes up. At ₱150/kg liveweight and 75% dressing, the carcass costs about ₱200/kg before anyone has cut it. PSA's national retail average for September 2026 was ₱338/kg liempo and ₱321/kg kasim, and BAI's NCR read for the week of 14 September had liempo at ₱372 and kasim at ₱344. Retail fell about 3% from July to September while farmgate, on the DA's figure, fell about 13% from June, so the gap has widened. Each of those three nodes has its own published series here: wholesale sabit ulo, which is the step between the farm and the stall and which almost nobody publishes, and retail liempo week by week. Slaughter fees, transport, the stall, spoilage on slow days, and the bones and trim that never sell at liempo prices all eat into that gap, so it is not pure profit. All four levels sit side by side, each with the date it was read, on what pork actually sells for. I took that gap apart link by link in farmgate to palengke: who gets the rest of the ₱380?, including what the abattoir actually charges and which step widened.
But it is not all cost either, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. NatFed puts the trader and biyahero margin at roughly ₱120/kg. The farmer, at ₱150 against a cost of production of ₱180–₱190, is the one link in the chain working at a loss. So the honest answer is that the butcher standing in front of you is probably not the problem, the layer between the farm and the stall is where the money sits, and the conversion is where you defend the little share you have.
For whether today's price even clears your cost, run your own numbers: how much it costs to raise a pig and profit on a 10-pig batch.
Free Tool
Break-Even Price Calculator
Enter your feed and weaner cost to see the liveweight price you need, then convert it to a dressed-equivalent before you negotiate.
Bisaya / Cebuano
Para sa mga mag-uuma
Liveweight (buhi) vs dressed (linapnusan):
- Ang baboy mga 72 hangtod 78 porsyento ra sa buhi nga timbang kung dressed na (commercial). Ang native mas ubos, mga 65 hangtod 70 porsyento.
- 100 ka kilo nga buhi nga baboy: mga 72 hangtod 78 ka kilo ra ang dressed.
Unsaon pag-convert sa presyo:
Presyo sa buhi, bahinon sa dressing porsyento. ₱150 kada kilo buhi (ang nasudnon nga presyo sumala sa DA, Agosto 2026), bahinon sa 0.75, mao ₱200 kada kilo dressed. Mao nga ang ₱190 kada kilo dressed mas ubos pa sa ₱150 kada kilo buhi. Kuwentaha usa pirme.
Ang gasto sa pagpadako ₱180 hangtod ₱190 kada kilo buhi, mas taas pa sa ₱150. Ang ₱210 kada kilo nga floor, target lang sa industriya nga gisuportahan sa DA, dili mapugos. Wala pa kini maabot sa nasudnon nga aberids sukad kini gitakda; pipila ra ka rehiyon ang nakaabot sa pipila ka bulan. Ayaw pag-salig ana.
Tambag: Ibaligya sa buhi nga timbang, naa sa timbangan, atubangan nimo. Kung mosulti ang trader og dressed, ayaw dayon pag-oo. I-convert balik sa buhi nga presyo ug itandi. Hinumdomi sab ang shrink sa biyahe, mga 2 hangtod 5 porsyento mawala sa timbang.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the dressing percentage of a pig in the Philippines?
Commercial and crossbred pigs run 72–78% of liveweight; native pigs about 65–70%. A 100 kg commercial pig yields roughly 72–78 kg carcass. Use 75% as a working midpoint.
How do I convert liveweight price to a dressed price?
Divide by the dressing percentage. At ₱150/kg liveweight, the DA's national figure for August 2026, ₱150 ÷ 0.75 = ₱200/kg dressed-equivalent, before cutting, transport, and the butcher's margin. At PSA's last official quarter, ₱172.44, it is about ₱230/kg dressed.
Liveweight or dressed, which should I sell on?
Liveweight, on a scale you can see. Dressed deals let the buyer control the hidden number, and it moves against the farmer. Convert any dressed offer back before you agree.
How much weight does a pig lose in transport?
About 2–5% of liveweight from hauling, fasting, and lairage, more on long hot trips. Settle who absorbs shrink before the pig leaves the farm.
Tools and Related Reading
- Break-even Calculator (the liveweight price you need to not lose money)
- Profit Simulator (model a full batch at today's price)
- Pig price today in the Philippines (current liveweight farmgate range)
- Liveweight pig prices by region (regional spread, freight, and shrink detail)
- How to estimate pig weight without a scale (the heart-girth tape method)
- Crossbreed and weaner prices (the buying side)
- How much it costs to raise a pig (your side of the margin)
Sources
- pig333: Dressing percentage in pigs: definition and commercial dressing-percentage benchmarks
- PSA OpenSTAT: Average Farmgate Price of Hogs for Slaughter: the official liveweight series. Q3 2025 ₱191.51/kg; Q4 2025 ₱182.83/kg; Q1 2026 ₱176.03/kg; Q2 2026 ₱172.44/kg (Apr 174.00, May 171.56, Jun 171.76)
- The Manila Times (28 Sep 2026): DA, national liveweight ₱150/kg in August 2026
- Daily Tribune (2 Oct 2026) and BusinessMirror (9 Oct 2026): cost of production ₱180–₱190/kg
- BusinessWorld: Floor price for live hogs set at P210 per kilo (4 Nov 2025): the ₱210/kg industry-agreed, DA-backed floor; Philstar (21 Sep 2026) on the DA lacking power to enforce it. The national average has never reached it since it was set; the Cordillera, BARMM, Central Visayas and Metro Manila have in some months
- PSA national retail, September 2026: liempo ₱338.23/kg, kasim ₱321.34/kg; BAI NCR weekly, week of 14 September 2026: liempo ₱372, kasim ₱344
- The Pig Site: Factors Affecting Killing-out Percent in Pigs (2015): killing-out (dressing) percentage defined, its usual 72–80% range, and what moves it (gut fill, weighing time, chilling loss, trimming)
Dressing percentages are typical ranges for Philippine slaughter conditions and vary with finish, breed, gut fill, and whether the head and skin stay on. Convert and confirm with your specific buyer before agreeing to any dressed-weight deal.
