March 19, 2004

Philippines To Allow Duty Free Soybean And Corn Imports

Philippines' ailing poultry and pig industries heaved a collective sigh of relief when the Ministry of Agriculture announced that it will temporarily lift tariffs on raw materials for feed manufacture.

With prices for livestock feed skyrocketing, the Philippine authorities looked to lower the price of raw feed materials such as soybean, corn and amino acids removing the tariffs.

Secretary of the ministry, Luis Lorenzo Jr said he would require National Tax Department to erase 3% tariff of soybean. If this is approved, livestock - poultry industry will put aside at least US$500million.

Before that, Malacanang province was authorized to import duty - free amount of corn worth US$350 thousand. However, they had to pay 0.5 peso/kg to Philippines Food Agency.