Philippine poultry group eyes more corn imports under ASEAN trade ties

The United Broiler Raises Association (Ubra) in the Philippines is looking at the possibility of importing corn under the ASEAN Free Trade Area (Afta) scheme.

Ubra president Gregorio San Digo Jr. said under the Afta scheme, corn traded among ASEAN members are slapped with a 30-percent tariff or lower compared to the 35-percent duty on corn imported under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme.

Importing under the Afta scheme is attractive because there is no need to ask the permission of the government to bring in corn, said San Diego.

However, San Diego said nothing is final yet and everything is still under study as there is no corn shortage for the livestock sector.

San Diego said corn tariffs under Afta could go further down, which would make corn traded among ASEAN countries cheaper.

Afta is a trading agreement originally signed by six members of the ASEAN--Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand--in 1992.