October 3, 2014
35% Philippine tariff sought for imported swine offal
Two groups in the agriculture sector have asked the Philippines'' Tariff Commission and the inter-agency Committee on Tariff and Related Matters to increase the tariff rate on imported pork offalfrom the current 5% to 35%.
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, an organization of farmers and agribusiness operators, and the Swine Development Council said pork offal, which are imported as raw materials by meat processors, found their way into wet markets, where there is a growing demand for such pork cuts.
Pork offalinclude pork parts such as ears, feet, tails, hearts, tongues, thick skirts, thin skirts, cauls, throats, thymus glands, kidneys, lungs, brains, pancreas, spleens, spinal cords and other "discarded" parts.
"These pork parts are wastes to most countries and therefore are easily sourced from pork-exporting countries; but our unique culinary taste for "sisig," "chicharon," and "tokwa''t baboy," and other beer chows have given smugglers another venue to make profit at the expense of the local industry and revenue generation from the government," said Sinag chairman Rosendo So.
"Technical smuggling [false declaration of prime meat as offal] is evidenced by the fact that there is an over-declaration of the amount of offal imported to the country and, on the other hand, a considerable under-declaration of the amount of imported swine [prime] meat which has a 35% tariff," said So.
Sinag, citing 2012 data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database, said pork offal exported to the country reached only 56 million kg.
The group, however, said records from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that "declared" offal that entered the country reached 105 million kg, or a declaration of only about a half of actual importation.
BAI data also showed only 73 million kg of imported pork meat entered the country while the UN data showed a much higher importation at 105 million kg.
Mr. So said most of the swine offal imports come from the US, Canada and France.
Imported offal, he added, sells for at least PHP135/kg in the Philippines when its import cost, including import duty, is only PHP60/kg.
The import duty for such discarded swine parts is up to 7% if fresh or chilled and up to 10% if frozen. However, Mr. So said importers of offal actually pay only a 5% tariff.
In an interview with a Manila radio station, Mr. So said the government should level the playing field by imposing higher tariff on imported offal so they won''t be able to undercut local pork prices.