Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. has revealed plans to allocate the bulk of pork imports under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) to meat processors, an impending decision awaited by the industry to ensure prices of processed meat products remain stable.
The DA chief said a significant portion of the MAV import quota will be set aside for agencies within the Department of Agriculture (DA) as a strategic reserve in case market intervention is needed.
The DA chief clarified that the “general direction, though not yet finalized,” is to allocate 30,000 metric tons (MT) of the 55,000 MT covered by the MAV quota to meat processors. This quota collects a lower 15 percent tariff on pork compared to the standard 25 percent. For the volume that the DA will retain, the agriculture secretary said he is inclined to set the allocation at15,000 MT that the DA will assign to either the Food Terminal Inc. and Planters Products Inc. to provide the government with the means to “tame prices if needed using the lower tariff under MAV.”
The remaining 10,000 MT will be equally distributed to traders, he added.
Pork prices have recently surged above P400 per kilogram at wet markets, a lingering effect of the African Swine Fever outbreak, which has significantly impacted the hog population. The DA has planned to impose a maximum suggested retail price—a system that has relatively good success in bringing down prices of rice—but held it in abeyance after meeting with pork industry players who pledged to find a way to lower prices to more reasonable levels.
Jet Ambalada, director of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc., expressed gratitude to Sec. Tiu Laurel for significantly increasing the MAV allocation for meat processors.
“This will help us maintain stable prices. As I’ve mentioned, the price of hotdogs has remained steady for over a decade, and a can of luncheon meat is now even cheaper than a can of sardines of the same size,” Ambalada said.
Sec. Tiu Laurel also noted that the final MAV allocation, which is part of the Philippines’ commitment to the World Trade Organization, should be finalized within the next few weeks. ### (Photo by Jay Morales, DA-OSEC)
