August 29, 2021 | 00h00
MANILA, Philippines – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (DA) has revised its forecast for agricultural exports to the Philippines for 2021 upward to $ 3.7 billion, due to increased shipments of pork products and poultry.
According to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report, the new figure is higher than the original forecast of $ 3.4 billion for this year.
“Exports to Southeast Asia increased by $ 400 million, mainly due to larger than expected shipments of pork and poultry products to the Philippines and soybeans to Indonesia,” said USDA.
Agricultural exports to the Philippines are also expected to hold steady at $ 3.7 billion next year.
Last year, US agricultural exports to the Philippines increased 9% to $ 3.2 billion.
In July, the USDA said the Philippines is expected to import more than 400,000 metric tonnes (MT) of pork this year thanks to better market access, in large part thanks to recent government policies to make it easier to import.
USDA has adjusted upward its pork import forecast for this year to 425,000 MT from its previous forecast of 350,000 MT, amid insufficient supply due to African swine fever (ASF) as well as adjustments to the country’s tariff system.
The latest pork import forecast figure is more than double the 167,000 MT of pork imports in 2020.
According to the USDA, the latest revisions were driven by current trade trends and improved market access.
In May, President Duterte issued Executive Decree (EO) 133, which increased the minimum access volume (MAV) for pork to 254,210 MT for the year MAV 2021 from 54,210 MT, as the ‘one of the measures aimed at increasing the local pork supply and stabilizing market prices.
Duterte also signed the EO 134 in May, which provides for quota pork imports or those under the MAV to be charged a 10 percent tariff for three months and will be increased to 15 percent in the remaining months. . This rate is lower than the initial rate of 30 percent.
