DA calls ban of palm oil imports

Manila -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) has reiterated its earlier recommendation for a “temporary ban” on palm oil imports, as Filipino coconut and oil palm farmers complain of extremely low prices due to the dumping of the commodity by two major palm oil-producing countries in Southeast Asia.

In his Facebook page, DA Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol said the proposed ban is just temporary and effective only for a specified period.

He said volume of palm oil imported from Indonesia and Malaysia have increased by 900 percent over the last three years. Piñol said he also asked the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Bio-Fuels Board (NBB) to increase the coconut oil component of bio-diesel from B2 to B5, or from 2 percent to 5 percent.

The two recommendations, which were made as early as last year, were resubmitted by the DA to the Economic Cluster, the DOE and NBB, following reports that the European Union (EU) has started the ban on palm oil imports from Malaysia and Indonesia over environmental issues, he said.

This development is expected to result in the dumping of palm oil in countries like the Philippines. Under the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), member-countries could initiate measures to safeguard its farmers affected by the dumping of excess commodities from other countries.