Meat importers warn of port congestion

Meat importers Thursday warned against the return of congestion at the country’s ports following the Department of Agriculture’s decision to cancel all import permits on agricultural products.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said last Tuesday he intended to issue “immediately” a special order recalling all permits issued by the bureaus of animal industry and of plant industry in an effort to curb smuggling by the repeated use or “recycling” of import papers.

However, industry sources said the situation at the Bureau of Customs was at “status quo” since there has been no directive received from the DA.

This means that inbound agricultural cargos continued to be released provided that sanitary and pythosanitary clearances were in order. “They have not hindered the release of any related cargo,” a source told the Inquirer.

In a separate interview, Jesus C. Cham, president of the Meat Importers and Traders Association Inc. (MITA), said there was a lot of confusion among the group’s ranks following Piñol’s statements.

Cham earlier asked that plans to cancel import permits be clarified as this could disrupt supplies and affect costs.

“Although the DA promised to revalidate within 24 hours, it still remains to be seen,” Cham said, referring to what he gathered from news reports.

“Extra costs at Customs (would) keep running for containers at the port,” he said. “What about unshipped containers that need new permits? The DA wants to do manual issuance (which is a step backward from the current online system for the issuance of permits).

The MITA president said it took five to seven days before the electronic online system, which cut down the waiting time to just two days.

Cham said that if the DA would push through with the order, perishable items would be placed at increased risk due to more delays at the port. “This can result in port congestion once more,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) reiterated support for government moves to curb smuggling, but clarified that a centralized process for the issuance of permits should not be the norm.

“This could also result in the centralization of corruption,” Sinag chair Rosendo So said. “What is needed is a transparent and more stringent procedure for importer accreditation.”