Gov’t prods pork imports, cites shortage

The government is encouraging imports of up to 5,000 metric tons (MT) of pork up to the end of June under a tax subsidy scheme to cover a shortage in supply due to the ongoing dry spell and storms and diseases that hit the sector last year. Pork producers, meat importers and traders, however, criticized the move. Last April 12, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order 875 allowing the Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI) to auction off to private traders the right to import the commodity under a tax subsidy scheme, where the government assumes duties and taxes. Under the order, the volume of imports, to be set by the Agriculture secretary, must not exceed 5,000 MT. The order is valid until June 30. Under the order, "the FTI is hereby authorized to include in its commodity coverage basic food items, particularly pork, which it may deem necessary to stabilize the country’s pork supply and prices." Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics showed that pork prices have averaged P180 per kilogram as of April 24, P10/kg more than in December last year. Agriculture officials were not available on Sunday to provide the estimated shortage in pork supply. But leaders of the associations of pork producers and meat importers and traders opposed the government move. Albert R. T. Lim Jr., president of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, Inc., said an expected shortfall in pork production this quarter is balanced by slower demand. "We object to this unnecessary importation," Lim said in a phone interview on Sunday. "At this time of the year, the demand for pork is low and there are plenty of hogs in Mindanao, so I don’t see any reason to import." "It [Palace order] will greatly affect our local production. They should have consulted us first." He would not give the amounts involved. Jesus C. Cham, president of the Meat Importers and Traders Association, said only about a third of some 54,000 MT of pork covered this year by the minimum access volume, which are slapped a lower 30 percent tariff rate, have been imported as of this month. "We are not in favor of this. [Those that will participate in the government scheme] will have undue advantage because they are [given] duty-free [perks]," Cham said. "They should have first made an accounting of last year’s imports and consulted with us." — GSDP and KAM, BusinessWorld