MANILA, Philippines — Imported meat flooded the local markets last year by more than 300 million kilos of pork and 270 million kilos of chicken, way above the minimum access volume (MAV) set by the World Trade Organization (WTO), Abono party-list and Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura chairperson Rosendo So said yesterday.
“While this brought down meat prices in the markets, the oversupply imperils backyard hog and chicken raisers who stand to lose their livelihood if the overimportation continues,” So said.
He said too much importation of meat products is not needed because domestic production could sustain local demand.
“The gap that needs to be addressed through importation is minimal,” So said.
He said domestic chicken production is sufficient with 1.3 billion kilos while pork production is at 1.8 billion kilos.
“This is the reason why the MAV set by the WTO is only 54.21 million kilos for pork and 23.49 million kilos for chicken. We can supply the local demand even without importing,” So said.
In 2018, total pork imports reached 387.89 million kilos or close to 700 percent above the MAV set by the WTO.
Total imported chicken reached 310.85 million kilos or about 1,100 percent more than the WTO-set volume.
“The overimportation decreased farm gate prices of poultry products to P70 per kilo and pork at about P120 per kilo. Backyard raisers will fold up because their earnings have fallen below break-even,” So said.
Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos earlier called on the government to calibrate importation volumes to help local raisers sell their products at competitive prices.