Imee says gov't pork import plan means 'slaughter' of local producers

Senator Imee Marcos on Sunday called on the government to stop its pork importation plan that would only benefit unscrupulous importers taking advantage of the lack of local supply due the impact of the African Swine Flu.

In a press release, the senator also pointed out that local producers should not be driven out of business due to pork imports flooding the market.

Marcos said, “The slaughter of our local hog raisers will begin if the Department of Agriculture (DA) executes its plan to raise the minimum access volume of pork imports by as much as three times the present 54,000 metric tons.” 

According to Marcos, “The DA may be overcompensating in its rush to increase imports to reduce consumer prices. It may deal the coup de grace to our pork industry before Vietnam could release a vaccine against African swine fever (ASF) later this year.” 

Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, said the DA should instead speed up its investigation into the hoarding of pork products that may be causing an artificial hike in market prices amid the spread of ASF, particularly in Luzon.

Luzon is running low on pork supply due to the impact of ASF that heavily clobbered hog raisers.  

But Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the DA is planning to reduce pork tariffs to raise pork supply in the market to drive down prices.

However, Marcos said prices of pork imports from the United States, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Brazil suggested excessive profits were being made at the expense of consumers.

Citing import data, Marcos said the import cost of a 40-foot container of frozen pork belly (liempo) from Spain was P117.87 per kilo, already including a 40% tariff.

“Compare that to its market price of as much as P450 per kilo. Even if you add cold chain, storage and outlet delivery costs, the meat importer’s costs would only amount to about P153 per kilo,” Marcos pointed out.

Aside from arresting hoarders and profiteers, Marcos said the government can also bring down meat prices by subsidizing the cost of transporting pork products to Luzon, which imports about 80% of its supply from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Marcos argued that the DA got the single biggest item for emergency and stimulus funding under Bayanihan 2, amounting to P24 billion.

Earlier, DA's Dar told Super Radyo dzBB's "Dobol B sa News TV" on Saturday that the agency is doing something about the issue on logistics.

He said the DA is teaming up with partners and stakeholders in the shipping sector to offer reduced, if not free, shipment cost for the transport of hogs from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Moreover, he said that strict monitoring is being done against unscrupulous traders as farm gate prices are relatively low. —LBG/KG, GMA News