Now it’s sugar imports: killing domestic producers one by one

They did it to rice. First, Malacañang endorsed a law to let anyone import rice as long as 50 percent duty is paid. Revenues were to fund irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, harvesters and driers. Yet it cut that tariff to only 35 percent. Cheap imports flooded in. Farmers groaned from double whammy. They not only got less subsidies, but the import oversupply also depressed their farmgate prices. Benefited most by the tariff cut were two grains smugglers in the Visayas and Mindanao.

They did it to poultry. Chicken sales have been down since 2020 as pandemic closed restaurants, school, factory and office canteens and market stalls. Despite the resulting overproduction, the Department of Agriculture kept importing chicken. Smuggled cuts also poured in from China. Dozens of multimillion-peso poultry farms closed shop from the unfair competition. Thousands of workers were laid off.

They did it to corn. When domestic poultry growers scaled down, demand for corn feed dropped. Losing incomes, corn growers appealed for lower farm inputs. Instead the DA authorized cheap corn importation. It was supposedly to offset increased prices of soybean from the US, a major ingredient in feed milling, delayed by port congestion.

They did it to pork. African Swine Fever began ravaging Luzon backyard and commercial piggeries in 2019. To stem the epidemic, hog raisers begged authorities to buy and bury the infected stocks. The DA allocated only P5,000 per diseased animal instead of the break-even P10,000. Discouraged, backyard raisers continued slaughtering and selling contaminated meat in markets, further spreading the ASF. DA’s transporting of live clean hogs to Luzon from the Visayas and Mindanao was spotty. When Luzon retail prices zoomed, the government swung like a pendulum to massive importation.

Hog raisers suggested to bring in 240,000 tons, the projected domestic shortfall, at the usual 30-percent tariff. The tax could finally push to P10,000 the DA’s buying price per diseased stock. Malacañang approved 840,000 tons at only five- to ten-percent tariff. Collections fell short to quell the ASF yet pork imports flooded even ASF-free Visayas and Mindanao. Inserted among the cheap imports were smuggled pork cuts from ASF-infested China. Deprived of government support, domestic hog raisers are contemplating shifting to non-food businesses.

They did it to vegetables and fruits. For two years now, smuggled farm produce from China have been flooding public markets. Contraband is hidden behind authorized imports. Planters in Cordillera, Central and Southern Luzon keep alerting Customs of the modus operandi – to no avail. Even red onion came in, forbidden to protect domestic producers, and easily detectable via Customs X-ray.

Customs officials blame DA counterparts for absence during examination of refrigerated cargo containers. The latter accuse the former of not providing a holding area for first-border inspection at seaports. Both sides withhold from the public the identities of warehouse owners and cargo consignees of raided and confiscated stocks. Without DA help in market information and transport, vegetable and fruit planters have had to throw away harvest by the roadside.

They did it to fish. On pretext of catch shortfall during the annual fishing ban last quarter, meat importers lobbied to bring in 120,000 tons of seafood. Commercial and artisanal fishermen and aquaculturists protested. Only commercial fleets were covered by the ban. Small fishermen would still catch their usual. Bangus and tilapia pens and ponds were brimming with stocks harvestable within the next seven months. The three sectors forecast only 15,000 tons shortage in case of natural calamity. The National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council in which they, academics and NGOs are represented to advise the DA, suggested a maximum of 30,000 tons.

The DA approved 60,000. Of that, only 37,000 were imported and 12,000 released from cold storage – the market’s absorptive capacity.

Last month the importers again lobbied for another 120,000 tons. Pretext this time was supposed fisheries destruction by Super Typhoon Odette. NFARMC said no: there was still 25,000 tons in refrigerated warehouses and 23,000 tons unfilled imports from the previous quarter. Still the DA allowed 60,000 tons of galunggong (round scad), mackerel, sardines, and bonito and tulingan varieties of tuna from China. The fish likely were stolen by Chinese maritime militia from Philippine seas.

Now they’re doing it to sugar. Supposedly due to tight supply of standard and bottlers’ grade refined sugar, the DA is importing 200,000 tons. Sugar planters are howling, as it’s the middle of the harvest and milling season. Their associations in Western Visayas, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog have long been asking the DA for help to lower fertilizer costs. The DA’s default response was to import the finished product.

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