Aurora Macapagal has been selling fresh meat for more than 3 decades. But now, she has also started selling imported pork because she earns more there.
“Nahati na nga ‘yong customer ko eh… Karamihan talaga nag-frozen na sila, lalo na ‘yong mga may canteen na maliit,” said Macapagal.
To this day, vendors still have a problem with the sluggish supply of fresh meat and its expensive price, compared to frozen.
At the Commonwealth Market in Quezon City, for example, imported kasim costs P250 per kilo while liempo costs P300.
This is lower compared to the P350 per kilo price of fresh kasim and P360 to P370 price of fresh liempo.
In other markets, liempo also costs P420 per kilo.
According to the Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA), there are already importers selling slaughtered pork at P200 per kilo.
It is said that it is cheaper than fresh meat which costs from P310 to P340 per kilo.
Price gap between fresh, imported pork ranges from P60-P100
“The traders or the palengke or the vendors, they can come and buy the carcass, which is equivalent to sabit ulo, at P200 per kilo,” said MITA President Jess Cham.
MITA also promised an initial 100 containers of imported pork. This is equivalent to 2.5 million kilos or 25,000 pieces of pork that will arrive in 2 to 3 months.
But they said importers’ sales could increase to P200 per kilo if the order lowering the tariff on imported pork is revoked.
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) said that the price of imported meat in the market should be only P185 per kilo even though the current tariff is 30 to 40 percent.
“Kinompute natin ‘yong computation… Dapat P185. Kung bumaba ‘yan ng 5 percent, dapat ang retail price is nasa P138,” said Sinag Chairman Rosendo So.
The Department of Agriculture is studying the implementation of the suggested retail price for local fresh meat.
Meanwhile, some senators will pass a resolution blocking President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to lower the tax on imported meat that will surely bring down the local pork industry.
Three senators will file a joint resolution to repeal Duterte’s signed Executive Order 128 where the 30 percent import tariff within the import quota or minimum access volume (MAV) will be one year reduced to 5 percent, while the 40 percent tax beyond the MAV will be only 15 percent.