Lower price cap for imported pork

February 10 ------ Higher volume of pork importation at lower tariff mulled to address supply shortage. The Departments of Trade and Industry, and Agriculture are finalizing within this week a price cap for imported pork which could even be lower than the existing price ceiling on pork. Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez revealed this during the press briefing of Presidential spokesman Harry Roque in Malacañang on Tuesday.

Lopez said he suggested a lower price ceiling on imported pork sold in supermarkets and grocery stores. He explained that the current price ceiling on pork and chicken are applicable mostly in wet markets. These pork and chicken supply in the wet markets are also mostly sourced from local hog and poultry raisers. But the imported pork products are largely sold in supermarkets and groceries. This way, he said, consumers have the option to buy from the supermarkets and groceries where prices are lower instead at the public wet markets where prices could be higher.

“The fact that we have competition in the playing field, it is certain that prices will go down because there are more players in the market,” he said. Earlier, President Duterte signed an executive order imposing a 60-day price cap on pork and chicken. It took effect on February 8. In the executive order, a price cap of P270 per kilogram (/kg) for pork kasim and P300/kg for pork liempo was set. He also said that the biggest problem now is the lack of supply because of the African Swine Flu (ASF), but once supply is back, prices will also go down.

That is why the Department of Agriculture (DA) is also working for higher volume of pork importation at lower tariff where traders and vendors are allowed a reasonable margin and still sell at prices even lower than the current price ceiling. The DA is eyeing a way bigger minimum access volume (MAV) allocation, or about 388,790 metric tons (MT) for pork. Agriculture Secretary William Dar said MAV advisory council recommended increasing MAV allocation for pork from 54,000 MT to 388,790 MT.

This is more than double the DA’s earlier proposal of 162,000 MT for triple MAV allocation. MAV refers to the volume of a specific agricultural product that is allowed to be imported with a lower tariff as committed by the Philippines to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Meanwhile, Lopez said the Economic Intelligence team, which was created to probe alleged price manipulators, has received tips and leads but these are still subject to further investigation.

Aside from the DA and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the intelligence team also includes the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the Philippine Competition Commission, among others. Lopez warned that authorities are going all out to catch unscrupulous traders. He recalled that during the height of pandemic last year where there was shortage of disinfectants and medical devices such as alcohol and face masks, some 500 traders had been arrested for various violations.

As of Tuesday, the prevailing retail price of pork stood at P270 to P300/kg at select markets in Metro Manila. The latest report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the average farmgate price of hogs upgraded for slaughter during the last quarter of 2020 was P120.14/kg, live weight. This was higher by 21.6 percent from the average farmgate price of P98.82/kg, live weight, in the same period of 2019.

Source: mb.com.ph