Govt reaches compromise on pork imports
Published on: Thursday, May 06, 2021
By: Inquirer
The price of pork soared to P400 per kilo in Bulacan province in early 2021 due to scarcity of supply after 60 percent of the province’s hog population was hit by the African swine fever. (Carmela Reyes-Estrope)
MANILA: The government has agreed to set the cap on imported pork products at 254,000 metric tons (MT) and slightly raise tariff rates on pork imports, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III disclosed on Wednesday.The government initially planned to raise the minimum access volume (MAV) of imported pork to 404,000 MT from the current 54, 210 MT but this was strongly opposed by local hog raisers and many senators.
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“Ang napag-agreehan namin is 254,000 metric tons (We agreed on 254,000 metric tons),” Sotto said in a phone interview after announcing that a compromise agreement was reached between the Senate and the executive department.
He said the Senate wanted the pork imports cap at 200,000 MT only but the government made a counter offer.
“Nag compute si Sec. Sonny kung ano ang ok pa rin, mapagbibigyan ‘yung gusto natin at ‘yung gusto mga hog raisers, mga local producers pero hindi masasaktan ‘yung target nilang reduction in inflation,” the Senate leader explained, referring to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
(Sec. Sonny made a computation, which is acceptable to us, to local hog raisers without hurting their target reduction in inflation)
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“So sa computation nila, kaya na ‘yung 254,000 MT (So in their computation, 254,000MT is doable),” he added.
Aside from reducing the cap on imported hogs, Sotto said the government also agreed to raise the tariff rates on pork imports.
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