Canada to appeal DA ruling on meat imports

MANILA, Philippines - The government of Canada is set to appeal the Department of Agriculture’s Administrative Order 22 which makes pork products from Canada more expensive than warm pork products sold in the market.

In an interview with reporters, Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Christopher Thornley said there are certain barriers in trade between the Philippines and Canada, specifically on pork.

According to Thornley, they are experiencing difficulties in their pork exports to the Philippines due to certain standards imposed under AO 22.

AO 22, or the Revised Guidelines for the Issuance of National Quality Seal for Agricultural and Fishery Products, was issued September 2009.

“We are exporting frozen products, but they created a lot sanitary regulations which don’t provide level playing (field) between the so-called warm meat and frozen sold in wet markets,” Thornley said.

He said the AO limits the amount of imported Canadian pork in the Philippines and compliance with the AO makes pork from Canada more expensive when compared to other pork products.

“It makes our products more expensive. The imposition of higher sanitary standards as compared to warm meat, extrapolate from there, it basically limits the amount of exports,” he said.

Thornley said Canadians and Filipinos prefer different pork parts, thus they, are exporting to the Philippines those parts that they do not consume. These parts, he said, can be used for sisig, ofals and tripe.

Meanwhile, on the issue of mining, Thornley said the Canadian government is directly dealing with the Philippine government with regards to mining issues like the ban on open pit mining.

“The Philippines is not the most difficult country to deal with,” he said. But he added Canadian firms are always looking for possible investments and it is up to the Philippine government to make the business environment more conducive.

In spite of the challenges in the local mining industry, Thornley said he is not aware of any Canadian mining firm planning to pull out their investments here.