DA: keeping low tariff necessary
We are still very much deficient, and definitely prices will continue to be up
The Department of Agriculture on Wednesday defended the extension of lower tariff on imported pork, rice, corn and coal anew after the farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura slammed the extension on lower rates.
In an interview with reporters, Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla said that signing Executive Order 10 was “necessary” as the production volume, 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 EO 10, signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., extended for the entire year the reduced rates of duty on meat of swine, fresh, chilled or frozen at 15 percent for in-quota and 25 percent for out-quota; corn at 5 percent for in-quota and 15 percent for out-quota; rice at 35 percent for both in-quota and out-quota; and coal at zero duty.
Sombilla said that while local farmers are a priority for the DA, they also “have to be concerned” for the overall economy.
According to Sombilla, the government would ensure that imports do not arrive during the harvest season to protect the local economy.
Extending ‘unfortunate’
In a separate statement, SINAG chairman Rosendo So said the signing of EO 10 as “unfortunate.”
“The economic managers prevailed despite the overwhelming fact that the first EO failed to lower prices of commodities, to the detriment of farmers and the government,” SINAG chairman Rosendo So said in a statement.
So added that the storage for pork imports is “overflowing.”
He mentioned that the farmgate price of rice, pork or chicken should have skyrocketed if there was a supply gap.
“But it never happened, the farmgate price of pork and chicken even dropped,” he added.
So, citing DA Bantay Presyo, said that the price of imported rice has been higher than local rice for several months now.
Importers and merchants, So said, still dominate the retail market “at the expense of the producers, consumers and the lost income of the government.”