Govt told to ban palm oil imports

The minority leader of the house of Representatives on Tuesday filed a resolution urging the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other concerned agencies to disallow the importation of palm oil.

in a news briefing, House minority Leader Danilo Suarez of Quezon said the government should stop the importation of palm oil, which has contributed to the steep decline in local copra prices.

“most of the palm oil imported reportedly came from malaysia and indonesia which enjoy tarifffree rates based on the asean trade in goods agreement,” he said.

Suarez, in House resolution 2519, said the volume of palm oil imports has significantly increased in recent years by almost 100 percent compared to 2016.

“the surge of palm oil importation causes the shift of the demand from coconut oil to palm oil due to the cheaper price of the latter. this, in turn, injures the coconut industry with the continuous falling of copra farmgate prices to compete with the price of palm oil and the concurrent oversupply of copra,” he said.

according to Suarez, the average farm-gate price of copra is now at P15 per kilogram, compared to P30 to P40 per kg in previous years.

“this economic situation affects the livelihood of the country’s coconut farmers which are mostly living in poverty,” he added.

Suarez said the Dti should look into the increase in palm oil imports and consider the suspension of imports. He said agencies must also find a way to hike copra prices to P25 per kg to level the playing field for domestic coconut producers.

in november, the Department of agriculture noted the “huge” increase in palm oil imports from malaysia and indonesia. agriculture Secretary emmanuel F. Piñol said the government will look into antidumping measures it could implement to protect local coconut farmers.