The inter-agency MAV Management Committee (MMC) has approved the guidelines on the “calibrated utilization” of additional minimum access volume (or MAV+) for imported pork meat to immediately boost domestic supply and to temper inflationary effect of high prices of fresh pork.
“We thank our colleagues in President Duterte’s Cabinet for issuing MMC Resolution No. 1, Series of 2021, that states the guidelines on how the additional 200,000 metric tons (MT) of pork imports under the MAV+ scheme will be utilized,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
The incoming shipments will be divided into two tranches: 140,000 MT or 70 percent (%) should arrive within July to October 2021; and the remaining 60,000 MT or 30%, should arrive from November 2021 to January 2022.
All pork imports under the MAV+ scheme is open to all interested importers at a first-come, first-served basis, according to the MMC resolution.
A maximum limit of 50 full-container load (FCL), approximately equivalent to 1,250 MT, is allowed per application per importer, it added.
The inter-agency committee also allowed “certain flexibility” in the issuance of permits by the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) to ensure the full utilization of the additional volume within the current MAV year, February 2021 to January 2022.
The resolution was unanimously approved by the six-member MCC to temper rising food inflation that was pulled up by high pork prices, mainly due to decreased hog population, as a result of the African Swine Fever (ASF) since mid-2019.
“There is a need to immediately address the current supply gap in pork meat, and to provide consumers with adequate and affordable food and to lower inflation,” the inter-agency MMC said.
To recall, last month President Rodrigo Roa Duterte issued Executive Order No. 133 that raised the MAV for pork imports by 200,000 MT from its previous level of 54,210 MT.
The MMC is composed of the departments of agriculture (DA), finance (DOF), trade and industry (DTI), science and technology (DOST), and agrarian reform (DAR), and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). ### (DA StratComms)
