MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has issued an order retaining the 5% tariff on imported mechanically deboned chicken and turkey meat until 2022.
In his Executive Order 123 signed on Jan. 15, Duterte cited the “urgent need” to adopt measures to mitigate the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives and livelihoods of Filipinos.
“[I]t is necessary for the government to provide an enabling environment that ensures the continued supply of essential food products at stable prices, helps businesses recover and sustain their operations, and preserves and creates employment opportunities, all for the purpose of supporting the economy in bouncing back and resuming its growth momentum,” the EO reads.
Duterte’s EO took effect immediately and will be implemented until December 31, 2022.
In July last year, a national group of poultry called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to temporarily stop the importation of chicken, saying the glut in the frozen inventory of local and imported chicken had worsened over the past three months.
The United Broilers Raisers Association (Ubra) also asked the DA to give backyard raisers enough buffer to recover from their losses without having to compete with imported meat.
EDV