Local agricultural producers do not want the Tariff Commission (TC) to extend the most favored nation (MFN) tariff cuts on rice, corn and pork beyond 2023, saying it is ineffective in pulling down retail prices.
“Our experience with tariff reduction is crystal clear; it has not benefitted the farmers, it has not favored the consumers and resulted in revenue losses to the government. Only a few privileged importers and favored traders are the true beneficiaries of tariff reduction,” the SamahangIndustriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said during the TC’s hearing yesterday.
SINAG said in a statement the new proposal for tariff reduction on rice, pork and corn should be rejected outright as there is no supply shortage and reduced tariffs have never resulted in any significant decrease in retail prices.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said the MFN tariff cuts have not been effective especially for rice since traders have not diversified import sources and still relied mostly from Asean suppliers.
“Imports from non-Asean sources had only marginal, if any, benefit to poor consumers. Only 32 percent of imports from Pakistan, the largest non-Asean supplier, was for rice with 25 percent brokens and more than half was for premium grades with 5 percent brokens or less,” FFF said.
The group added it is against the extension as the country did not have “material benefits gained in exchange for foregone tariff revenues of over a billion pesos so far.”
The TC is expected to decide on the proposal next month.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed last year Executive Order (EO) 10 that extended the lower MFN tariff rates on pork, corn, rice and coal until Dec. 31, 2023.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) then said the extension is “necessary” as local production of goods is still unstable and is affected by various factors.
Because of EO 10, duty rates on pork for in quota shipments are at 15 percent and 25 percent for out quota shipments until the end of the year.
EO 10 also maintained tariffs of in quota and out quota rice to 35 percent and placed corn tariff to 5 percent for in quota and 15 percent for out quota until the end of 2023.
The policy also maintained the zero tariff on coal beyond the end of the year but will be subject to a semestral review after that period.
Based on the DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, the price of local well-milled rice as of yesterday is at P45 per kilogram and regular milled at P41 per kg.
Imported well milled rice costs P45 per kg while imported regular milled is at P43 per kg.
Imported rice ranges from P53 to P56 for the special variety and P52 to P55 for premium. For local rice, the special variety costs P54 to P60 per kg and premium, P47 to P50 per kg.
Pork kasim is priced at P260 to P280 per kg while pork liempo is at P290 to P330 per kg.
