Philippines: Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) welcomes tariff retention on imported deboned meat

MANILA – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has welcomed the signing of Executive Order (EO) 123 retaining the tariff rate of imported mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken and turkey at 5 percent until end-2022. In a statement Monday, the DTI said retaining the tariff rate for imported MDM will keep suggested retail prices (SRPs) of processed and canned meat products. DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez has earlier supported the retaining of MDM tariff at 5 percent as there are no local producers that needed to be protected. “There is no need to increase the tariff to 40 percent because there are no local producers to protect. Since MDM is the 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 SRP,” Lopez said. President Rodrigo Duterte signed the new EO last Jan. 15. “The new EO amends EO 82, signed by the President in ...