7 M kilos of pork imports to arrive by Sept. – Piñol

More than three months since the Department of Agriculture (DA) allowed the importation of up to seven million kilograms (kg) of pork meat covered by the Minimum Access Volume (MAV), imports are yet to arrive.

However, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is confident that all of this 7 million kg or 7,000 metric tons (MT) of pork meat will all arrive by September since all the import permits have already been issued.

“We already issued the import permits. We issued everything,” Piñol said. “(Before the end of September), they should all arrive.”

It was in the latter part of April when the DA allowed such importation to help stabilize the increasing price of pork.

The import permits that have been granted by the DA will only last for three months, which means any permit issued in May or June should lapse in a few weeks.

Pork imports under MAV are taxed a 30percent tariff, while those outside of MAV are slapped a 40-percent tariff.

In a separate interview, Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Livestock Enrico P. Garzon Jr. said around 5.5 million kg of pork imports have already been purchased and is expected to arrive in a few months.

From January to May, pork imports, which accounted for almost half of the total meat imports, fell to 105,625 MT from 122,328 MT, a gap of 13.65 percent.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said the increase in the retail price of pork is a direct result of the sharp decline in the number of pigs being raised by backyard hog raisers and tightness in global supply.

In 2016, backyard hog growers were raising 7.95 million heads (pork). This year, hogs being raised by backyard hog farmers were down to 7.75 million or a loss of more than 200,000 heads (pigs).

Despite the decrease, SINAG noted that backyard hog raisers still account 64 percent of the hog industry, while commercial hog producers only account for 36 percent.

“For the past six years, backyard hog raisers were losing out against smuggling and the misdeclaration of pork meat as offal, which has a lower tariff (5 percent) as compared to 40 percent tariff of pork meat,” the agriculture group said.

While this is happening in the local arena, there is also tightness in the global supply of pork as China alone needs to import close to 3 million metric tons of pork for this year.

Exporters are also looking into Japan and South Korea where pork markets are performing rather well.