Philippines tackles palm oil dumping with ASEAN neighbors

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is set to resolve the dumping of palm oil exports of neighboring ASEAN countries that had caused the slump of prices in the local coconut industry.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Indonesia and Malaysia both agreed to form a tripartite technical working group to address the dumping of palm oil into the country.

“Importation data gathered by the DA showed that exports of palm oil to the Philippines by both Indonesia and Malaysia increased by 100 percent over the last three years,” he said.

The DA had earlier recommended a temporary ban on palm oil importation.

Approximately four million farmers nationwide were affected by the drop in copra prices due to competition in the global market.

During the meeting, the agri chief said he recommended to keep palm oil exports only at levels which would not hurt the local industry.

“They should also check on reports of the smuggling of crude and refined palm oil to the Philippines and for them to open up their markets to Philippine products, especially coconut-based ones, to correct the trade imbalance,” Piñol said.

The Philippines has long been asking Indonesia to ease up on its protocols and open their market access for agricultural products coming from the Philippines to settle the restrictions and disparity in trade imbalance.

Government data showed that Indonesia exports $1 billion worth of agricultural products to the Philippines mainly palm oil, while allowing only $50 million worth of exports from the Philippines.

The Philippines used to export a huge volume of horticultural products to Indonesia, including shallots and tobacco, but restrictive import policies imposed tilted the trade balance in favor of Indonesia.