Excessive meat importation threatens local hog industry

Leaders of the hog industry warned yesterday that the P83-billion-a-year industry is on the verge of collapse because of smuggling and excessive importation of meat.

In a letter to Sen. Edgardo Angara, officials of the National Federation of Hog Raisers (NFHR) led by its national chairman, Nemesio Co, said that farm gate prices of hogs have been dropping to record low levels because of the dumping of processed meat and carabeef.

The federation told Angara that farm gate prices have dropped to P17 and even P14 in hog-producing areas, and there are no signs that they will rebound.

"The failure of authorities to curb smuggling of meat into the country compounds the dumping," they complained.

The hog raisers claimed that both smuggled and legally imported carabeef comes from India, a country with a long and lethal history of food and mouth disease.

"The imported and smuggled meat go not only to registered food processors but also to wet markets, canteens, restaurants and other establishments that are deadly spreading ground for FMD," they said in the letter to Angara.

They asked Angara to prepare possible legislation to prop up the threatened hog industry. Angara, a former agriculture secretary, had consistently fought dumping and smuggling of agricultural foods into the country.

They said that in the entire 2001, P32.6-million worth of processed meat was imported.

"As of today, processed meat worth P49.3 million has already been imported for a 41-percent surge," the hog raisers pointed out.

They added that P49 million worth of carabeef has already been imported, or an increase of 11 percent over last year’s importation of P44 million.

"But what is more worrisome is the huge volume of processed meat and carabao meat that is being slipped into ports, private wharves, and the country’s unguarded coastal areas," the industry leaders said in the letter.