Goya gets nod to import Indon candies

Government has allowed Goya Philippines to import $4.75-million worth of candies from PT Nestle Confectionery in Indonesia under the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation (AICO) scheme.

The Cabinet committee on Tariffs and Related Matters (TRM) approved Goya’s petition to include sugar confectioneries in the AICO scheme, saying it will likewise allow the company to export a corresponding $3.28-million worth of packing materials to Indonesia.

TRM documents indicate that under the AICO scheme, Goya will be able to avail of preferential tariff on confectionery products. The documents also show that the TRM Cabinet committee had agreed to apply a five-percent AICO rate on Fox’s and Polo candies.

In its petition, Goya said the Indonesian government has already approved the project but this needs the concurrence of the Philippine government before the cooperative project could be implemented.

Under the project, Goya will supply PT Nestle with packaging materials such as twist wrappers, foil wrappers and the like for Nestle’s confectionery product brands Fox’s and Polo.

These products will then be imported at three-percent tariff.

Goya Philippines is a unit of Nestle Philippines which manufactures various confectionery products in the Philippines.

The proposal was originally submitted to the Tariff Commission which conducted a series of public hearings before submitting its recommendations to the Cabinet TRM committee.

Local confectionery producers, however, opposed the importation saying that PT Nestle can produce their products at lower cost because their sugar prices are low.

In contrast, local producers are burdened with declining sugar stocks and high import duty on sugar which prevents access to cheap imported sugar. – Des Ferriols