April 26, 2021
Meat importers in Philippines take advantage of cheap tariffs, book orders for 600,000 tonnes of frozen pork
Meat importers in the Philippines are rushing to book orders of as much as 600,000 tonnes of frozen pork from abroad for the next three months to take advantage of cheaper tariffs enforced by Malacañang, an industry group said on April 21.
This came as Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte asked lawmakers to give the tariff cut a chance to bring down prices of pork, and said he is willing to recall the order once the local supply of meat returns to normal.
Jet Ambalada, director of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc., said Duterte's Executive Order (EO) 128 and another executive order to be issued soon will allow up to 400,000 tonnes of frozen meat to be shipped to the country subject to a 5% duty - a bargain compared to the previous 30% rate.
Additional shipments will be charged 15% of the declared cargo value, down from 40%, a rate that is in place for three months starting April 7 per EO 128.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the order subjecting over 350,000 tonnes of imported meat to the cheapest duties will be "issued soon."
"Right now, my friends in the industry are all rushing to apply to import pork," Ambalada told a webinar organised by the British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (BritCham). "I think there will be a large bulk of importation taking advantage of EO 128. Depending on what happens in the economy, we believe that it can even go higher than 400,000 (tonnes); it may even reach 600,000 tonnes this year on total importation under what we call the MAV (minimum access volume)," he said.
Meat producers in the United Kingdom are among those interested to supply pork to the Philippines, according to BritCham chairman Chris Nelson.
According to presidential spokesman Harry Roque, Duterte appealed to senators to wait for at least two months to see the impact of EO 128 in the local hog industry.
The senators earlier adopted a resolution asking the president to recall the order lowering pork tariffs amid concerns it would affect local hog raisers.
- Manila Standard PH