Pork tariff hike seen to stoke inflation

MANILA, Philippines — The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) warned that raising the tariffs on imported pork could further stoke inflation, as the government moves to impose higher duties on pork meat to protect local hog raisers.

BCCP executive vice chairman Chris Nelson said the Department of Agriculture (DA)’s proposal to raise the tariffs on imported meat could drive up retail prices.

“The Philippines’ impact has to be that it’s going to impact prices. At this moment, inflation is probably one of the key concerns of the government,” he told reporters.

The DA is seeking to raise the in-quota tariff rates on pork to 30 percent and the out-quota duties at 40 percent, which it said would protect the local industry amid the continued entry of imported pork.

Imported pork meat is currently given a reduced 15 percent tariff rate for shipments within the minimum access volume (MAV) and 25 percent for out-quota imports.

The agency is also proposing to impose a two-month freeze in pork imports starting November. The issuance of import permits will be stopped for 60 days for pork meat products like kasim (shoulder), pigue (butt) and liempo (belly).

In a position paper submitted to the Tariff Commission, the BCCP argued that the DA should keep existing tariff rates on pork at the current level until domestic supply can meet growing local demand.

Nelson also questioned the government’s plan to impose a 60-day ban on pork imports, saying the move could further strain supply and drive-up prices.

“More importantly, why would you impose an import ban when inflation and supply are already issues?” he asked.

He noted that the traders prefer working in clear trading conditions.

“We want to work in a way where conditions or trading is clear, not where somebody can say that they can ban something for two months,” Nelson said.

He also called on the DA for clarity in the additional MAV allocations, noting that some traders have not been given allocations.

“We think the easier the way of rolling out the allocations, the better and when they made those changes, as far as we’re aware, the importers couldn’t get it,” he said. 

The government in May, raised the MAV for pork to 204,210 metric tons from the previous 54,210 MT import quota.

The country imported a total of 573,091 MT of pork from January to August, according to the Bureau of Animal Industry. The United Kingdom has supplied around 14,838 MT.