The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) on Tuesday denounced the Meat Importers and Traders Association’s (MITA) request for the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to consider a 5 percent across-the-board levy on all meat and edible offal.
“Tariff protects the local industry since imported (pork) supply has lower cost of production as they are heavily subsidized by their respective governments. In the absence of comprehensive government support, tariff is the local industry’s last refuge,” said Jayson Cainglet, SINAG executive director.
According to him, reducing the tariff on meat is much like the unlimited and ill-timed imports that have not redound to reduced retail prices which is at the core of MITA’s self-serving letter to NEDA.
SINAG said if NEDA were to heed MITA, the importers will be its lone beneficiaries and only adversely affect the P160 billion local livestock industry that include hog farms, feed mills as well as animal health and nutrition companies.
In a letter dated 22 May, MITA asked the NEDA to consider extending by five year the reduced tariff on pork products to allow the hog industry to recover from the effects of the African swine fever (ASF) which first hit the country in 2019.
“The five year period was premised on the containment of ASF or the discovery of a vaccine, none of which has materialized. We are now in the fourth year and Department of Agriculture has just forecast a pork shortage in the coming months. Clearly the hog recovery is not going well. It is timely to now maintain low tariff for the next five years,” according to MITA.
It argued that global pork production has dropped and forecast to continue dropping, forcing economies around the ASEAN to cut the tariff on pork meat and approved more countries of origin, even those plagued by ASF.
Pork tariff are at 15 percent for in quota and 25 percent for out quota until the end of the year.
Without any extension, the tariff will revert to 30 percent for in quota and 40 percent for out quota.
