Supply and prices of canned meat will remain stable as tariff on key ingredient, mechanically-deboned meat (MDM) of chicken and turkey has been maintained at 5 percent.
President Duterte signed last Jan. 15, 2021 Executive Order 123, “Modifying the Rates of Import Duty on Certain Agricultural Products under Section 1611 of Republic Act No. 10863 otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. The tariff will remain at 5 percent until Dec. 31, 2022.
Duterte said due to the continuing new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, there is an urgent need to adopt measures that will mitigate the adverse impact of the current situation on the lives and livelihood of Filipinos.
He added it is also “necessary for the government to provide an enabling environment that ensures the continued supply of essential food products at stable prices, helps businesses recover and sustain their operations, and preserves and creates employment opportunities, all for the purpose of supporting the economy in bouncing back and resuming its growth momentum.”
“Since MDM is a main cost component in low-priced canned and processed meat products, any tariff increase will only lead to the inflation of cost and prices of most canned meat products that are also part of basic goods in our suggested retail price,” said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, who had opposed the increase in tariff on the product to 40 percent.
The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. through its president Felix Tiukinhoy Jr. also said that MDM “is a primary raw material in the production of processed meats such as hotdogs, sausages, canned meat products and similar items which provide the protein needs of our people at affordable prices,” —(with J. Macapagal)
