ASF to drive pork imports this year

MANILA, Philippines — The spread of African swine fever (ASF) to Cebu is seen to further drive pork imports this year, according to the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI).

The ASF has now spread to 16 regions after the deadly virus penetrated Central Visayas.

“Due to the continued spread of African swine fever or ASF in the country, local supply has been heavily affected. Therefore, importation has been necessary to arrest issues on food security and inflation,” PAMPI secretary Precious Chua-Yu said.

When asked if this would further hike pork imports, the PAMPI official said: “I would think so because for the longest time, specifically Visayas was not affected by ASF. They built up a very tight biosecurity to protect their hog industry,”

“With the ASF outbreak in Cebu, I believe the country doesn’t have a choice but to resort to pork imports to supply demands of the Filipino consumers,” she said.

Prior to the ASF outbreak in Cebu, the country’s pork imports were already projected to increase further this year due to the extension of lower pork tariffs until Dec. 31.

“With the current administration’s decision to extend lower import tariffs for pork, imports are expected to increase. Executive Order 10, signed by the President last year, retained lower tariffs at 15 percent in-quota from 30 percent and 25 percent out-quota from 40 percent,” Chua-Yu said.

Because of this retention, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier projected pork imports to increase to 600,000 metric tons (MT) this year from 575,000 MT last year.

This year’s projection is higher than its previous forecast of 450,000 MT.

Last year, the country imported 710.36 million kilos (or 710,360 MT) of pork, which is 28.06 percent higher than the 554.7 million kilos (554,700 MT) shipped in the previous year, data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed.

Pork imports accounted for more than half of the total meat or 52 percent.

“Due to the retention of these lower tariffs, pork import volume is looking optimistic. In the USDA report, a prediction of 600,000 metric tons of pork imports is expected this year, which is an increase of 4.3 percent,” Chua-Yu said.

For meat processors, the industry requires imported pork products – particularly pork fat—since local producers cannot cater to their requirements.

Currently, the country is not equipped to process their requirements due to lack of accredited slaughterhouses, the PAMPI official said.

“I want to clarify and share that the reason why we import and don’t buy locally is because our raw material is very specific. We only need pork fat. In the Philippines, local hog raisers will sell you the whole hog, which we do not need,” Chua-Yu said.

Unlike pork, PAMPI said  chicken imports may not be as strong due to the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) or bird flu.

“In terms of importation of pork, it looks more promising than poultry at this point,” Chua-Yu said.

While government also kept the low duties on mechanically deboned chicken meat or MDM, the bird flu—which is a more global concern—may keep chicken imports muted, Chua-Yu said.

“Bird flu is a more serious issue because it’s a harder animal disease to contain versus ASF where there is already a vaccine in the works that’s looking promising to resolve ASF issue globally,” she said.

“Due to bird flu, it makes importing poultry in general a dangerous outlook at the moment because of the continuous spread of bird flu. Bird flu has spread to other continents, such as South America, whereas before, there was no bird flu in South America. It’s very alarming,” the PAMPI official said.

Last year, BAI data showed chicken was the second major imported meat for the period, accounting for 30.3 percent of the total.