October 24, 2006

Philippine hog farmers blast pork smuggling from China

Local hog farmers has warned the government of the increasing incidences of pork smuggling from China that could affect government's efforts to eradicate foot and mouth disease (FMD) and severely affect their industry.            

Albert Lim, president of National Federation of Hog Farmers, told the Business Mirror that trade players are now wary of the alarming rate of smuggled imported meat from China.

Lim said illegally imported Chinese pork poses a double threat for local hog farmers and meat processors as they are cheaper and not free from FMD that could spread and affect local swine farms.

The group wants President Gloria Arroyo to act on their concerns because of its potential damage to the local industry and its threat to the hogs' biosecurity as well as the health of the people.

Lim urged the reactivation of an antismuggling task force to fight the problem.

Customs personnel late last month intercepted P32 million (US$640,000) worth of frozen pork at the Manila International Container Port, which was earlier declared as frozen fish, giant squid and mackerel, all from various ports in China. 

Lim said current measures against smuggling are ineffective and the national police, tasked to oversee smuggling activities, are unaware of the illicit dealings as they are deployed outside the ports.

A temporary import ban of FMD-susceptible animals, their products and byproducts is imposed for Argentina, Turkey and Egypt, but no prohibition is in place for China.

According to Lim, Chinese pork is still not FMD free and the virus can possibly spread to local regions which are FMD free such as the Visayas and Mindanao.