Frozen chicken and pork
The Philippine government may have failed to properly regulate the entry of imported frozen chicken and pork in the country in the past months, leaving the cold storage of Metro Manila Central Luzon, and Calabarzon overwhelmed with a combination of local and imported supply of these agricultural commodities.
A data from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) showed that from June 24, 2019 to June 22, 2020, the country's inventory of frozen dressed chicken surged by 74.1 percent, while local production stood higher by a whopping 284.36 percent.
In total, this is an increase of 138.79 percent.
As for pork, while it slightly went down by 7.2 percent, local production surged by 195.31 percent, representing an increase of 7.94 percent increase in total inventory.
“Please join us in prayer that there will be no second Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or lockdown in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and CALABARZON,” United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) President Elias Jose Inciong and UBRA Chairman Gregorio San Diego Jr. said in an open letter to Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
Right now, Metro Manila is the principal market for broilers, while Central Luzon and CALABARZON are the top two producers in the country.
Because of lockdown restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, local raisers saw a steep decline in the demand for their products, which are mostly being taken up by the Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional (HRI) sector.
This prompted them to request to the Department of Agriculture (DA) in March to temporarily suspend the importation of poultry meat and poultry by-products so that their products can be absorbed by the local market.
At that time, dressed chicken frozen inventory was at 82.6 million kilograms (kg), with local production at 46.4 million kg while imported was already at 36.1 million.
“Secretary Edgardo Angara was able to suspend imports in 2000 when the industry was in mortal danger from unfair competition and smuggling. Supervening events, however, clearly show that the present DA is not so inclined ostensibly because of our World Trade Organization commitments,” Inciong and San Diego said.
“While we disagree with this decision, we have no choice but to accept our present reality and leave it all to prayer,” they added.
As a way forward, UBRA requested the DA to spearhead a legislative effort to seek clear authority that in certain circumstances the Secretary of Agriculture may suspend importation.
“We will do so ourselves and can only hope for your support,” Inciong and San Diego further told Dar.
The other week, Nicanor Briones, Vice President for Luzon Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, made a direct appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte to address the over-importation of pork, poultry, vegetables, and fisheries products.
He also made some suggestions how the government could help local producers recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Briones, who also serves as the president of the Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines, said the national government should make sure that the tariff collected from the importation of agriculture products, not just rice, will be received by the farmers under the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF).
He also suggested the distribution of a monthly food subsidy worth at least P500 per family, which they could use to buy locally produced agriculture products.
Briones made the statement as Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque suggested the importation of more pork products in order to bring down the cost of the commodity.
Last week, DA had adjusted higher the suggested retail price (SRP) for pork in Metro Manila amid the observed decline in supply.
To be specific, the SRP of pork pigue or kasim is now at P230 per kg (/kg) from the previous SRP of P190, while liempo's SRP is now P250/kg from the previous P225/kg.