RP nixes Canada’s demand for lower tariff on pork

The Philippine government is not conceding to Canada’s demand for hefty cuts in tariffs on pork imports in exchange for its approval of the country’s bid to extend its quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice.

Canada, one of the Philippines’ biggest pork suppliers, wants Philippines to lower its pork impot tariff from 30 percent to five percent in exchange for its support to the Philippines’ request for an extension of its QR on rice.

"We are consistent in our stand that we shouldn’t bring down tariffs on imported pork. For one, Canada is not even a major producer of rice, we will not get anything from them, unlike Australia and New Zealand for instance where we could get cattle and dairy products," said a high-ranking official of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The same official said that at this stage, the Philippine government will insist on continuing the QR on rice because the rice sector, bereft of government subsidies provided by its foreign competitors, cannot withstand the entry of cheap imported rice.

He added that the alternative, which is to impose higher tariffs on imported rice is not yet feasible given the current sorry state of the local rice industry.

"Our production costs are very high compared to say Thailand or Vietnam which are major rice producers and exporters. A 20-kilo bag of petroleum-based fertilizer in Bangkok would cost just 500 baht compared to a P900 per sack bag in Manila. Rice farmers also get subsidies that allow them to export at prices lower than our locally-produced rice. Thailand can sell its rice at 14 Baht per kilo which is equivalent to P17 per kilo," explained the official.

The DA official said the Philippines however, cannot always be looking at QRs to shield the local rice industry.

"We have to create a scenario for 2010 and beyond to see where we are, in the long run maybe we could reach a point of competitiveness and just impose higher tariffs on rice imports," he noted.

Several non-government organizations under the umbrella group Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) are urging the DA to be firm and reject Canada’s insistence that its pork imports be allowed entry into the Philippines at just five percent. – Rocel Felix