MORE local hog industry groups have urged the government to immediately raise pork import tariffs and restrict shipments, warning that depressed farmgate prices are causing heavy losses and could force farms to close.
The groups want the tariff hike, along with temporary quantitative restrictions on pork imports for up to 200 days, starting this month.
In an Oct. 8 letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines, Philippine Pork Council Alliance and other groups sought protective measures for local raisers.
They blamed the influx of imported pork for farmgate prices that have fallen steadily since July 2025 and now range from P130 to P140 per kilogram, below production costs of P180 to P190.
The groups estimated losses at P50/kg or P5,000 for a 100-kg slaughter hog.
“Every day that passes without regulatory intervention inflicts an additional P250 million loss on the local industry,” they said.
Delaying action until January 2027 could bring cumulative losses to at least P22.5 billion and trigger widespread farm closures, they warned.
The Department of Agriculture recently proposed raising pork import tariffs by 10 percentage points in 2027 to 25 percent for shipments within the quota and 35 percent for those exceeding it, from 15 percent and 25 percent, respectively. Rates would return to 30 percent and 40 percent the following year.
They also asked the government to reclassify pork jowls and raise their tariff from 10 percent to 25 percent, aligning it with swine meat, then to 40 percent once baseline rates are restored.
To curb undervaluation and misdeclaration, they urged the Bureau of Customs to publish actual transaction values for imported pork and adopt these as mandatory reference values.
They also proposed limiting sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances for mechanically deboned meat to accredited meat processors.
Bureau of Animal Industry data showed total meat imports reached 1.14 billion kg from January to August. Pork accounted for more than half, at 602.65 million kg, up 5.18 percent from 573.09 million kg a year earlier.
