Importers seek lower tariff on chicken, pork

Food importers are asking the Department of Agriculture (DA) to reduce tariffs on chicken and pork. The Agriculture and Food Suppliers Association (AFSA) said the DA should consider further reducing the tariffs of these two commodities to allow importers to bring them into the country at a cheaper cost and stabilize prices.

AFSA said the existing tariffs on pork and chicken still make it expensive for importers to ship the commodities because of the high prices of both products in the international market. Currently, chicken and port imports are imposed minimum access volume (MAV) tariffs of 40 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

DA officials said pork prices now hover at $2.40 to $2.60 per kilo, while poultry products are $0.94 to $0.96 US cents per kilo, without the tariffs.

AFSA spokesperson Samuel Señoren said the MAV volumes have not been fully availed of in the last three months. Chicken imports during the period reached 7,725 metric tons (MT) or 33.6 percent of the total MAV allocation of 22,968 metric MT.

Importers have not totally consumed the pork imports allocation of 5,000 MT with a tariff of 10 percent. "Nobody wants to take the risk as of now, the government should not rely on the private sector and must participate in the importation when possible," Señoren said.

He said the period allowed for importation of pork, which is until June 7, should be extended. The Department of Trade and Industry urged the DA to allow the importation of pork and chicken to stabilize domestic prices.

Agriculture Undersecretary Cesar Drilon said local poultry raisers will determine their production levels before importation volumes for poultry could be determined. "We have asked them to submit their production targets after the consultation yesterday," said Drilon. He noted that the high price of pork prompted consumers to shift to chicken and this has eaten up the inventory of the local suppliers.

Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators (PABI) president Rita Imelda Palabyab said their group does not oppose importation but government should ensure the sources do not come from countries previously infected with the bird flu virus.

PABI includes San Miguel Corp., Swift Foods Inc., Tyson-Agro-VenturesInc. and Universal Robina Corp. and Vitarich Corp. The possible sources for pork would be European countries like Germany, while chicken could be imported from US and Canada.