SINAG slams ‘unfortunate’ extension of lower import duties on pork, rice, corn, coal

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) on Wednesday slammed the extended lower tariff rates on imported pork, rice, corn, and coal.

In a statement, SINAG chairman Rosendo So described the signing of Executive Order No. 10 as “unfortunate.”

The EO 10, signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., extended for the entire year the reduced rates of duty on the following commodities: meat of swine, fresh, chilled, or frozen at 15% (in-quota) and 25% (out-quota); corn at 5% (in-quota) and 15% (out-quota); rice at 35% (in-quota and out-quota); and coal at zero duty.

“Mas napakinggan ang economic managers despite the overwhelming fact na hindi naman napababa ng naunang EO ang presyo ng bilihin, nalugi pa ang mga magsasaka at nawalan pa ng kita ang gobyerno,” So said.

(The economic managers prevailed despite the overwhelming fact that the first EO failed to lower prices of commodities, to the detriment of farmers as well as the government.)

The SINAG chairman said that the storage for pork imports are “overflowing.”

“We have been saying this since the discussions on the tariff reduction on pork and rice at the Senate and the Tariff Commission as early as January of last year,” So said.

“If there was a supply gap on pork (even rice and chicken); dapat sumirit na pataas ang farmgate ng palay, baboy o manok. Walang shortage, pero meron nagsasamantala (the farmgate price of rice, pork or chicken should have skyrocketed). But it never happened, bumagsak pa nga farmgate ng baboy at manok (the farmgate price of pork and chicken even dropped),” he said.

“In the case of rice, mas mahal pa nga imported rice sa local rice (the price of imported rice is higher than local rice), per DA Bantay Presyo for several months now,” he added.

So said that importers and traders continue to dominate the retail market and rake in profits “at the expense of the producers, consumers and the foregone revenues of government.”

In an interview with reporters, Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla defended the EO 10.

“We think it is necessary… the volume of production especially for pork has not increased that much to fill the gas… We are still very much deficient and definitely prices will continue to be up,” Sombilla said.

The Agriculture official said that producers have to understand that the DA is also concerned with local farmers, “but we also have to have concern on the whole economy as well.”

Sombilla said the government will ensure that the arrival of imports will not coincide with harvest season so as not to affect the local industry.

In a separate statement, the Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) welcomed the EO 10 as it “will enable meat importers to maintain low wholesale prices of imported pork.”

“We will work with the government and call on stakeholders to manage the value chain in order to lower the retail price for the consumers,” MITA said.

“The EO is a balanced order which could mitigate the rise, if not lower, the cost of power and feed for our poultry and hog growers,” it added.

The group said the government also needs to follow through and realign and refocus its resources to the corn sector and help it become efficient and cost competitive to support our pork and poultry sectors.

“The effort should be towards long term sustainability. We reiterate our appeal to the government to make the lower corn tariff permanent , and maintain the lower pork tariff for five years. This will allow the market to attain equilibrium and enable the consumers to benefit,” MITA said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News