The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. has warned that the continuous government ban on poultry products, including mechanically deboned meat from Brazil will lead to a shortage of raw materials and eventually higher prices of canned food products in the Philippines.
PAMPI spokesman Rex Agarrado said the tight supply of raw materials caused by the import ban would likely push up prices of canned meat products by 10 percent to 14 percent in the coming weeks.
Agarrado said this is because Brazil is the second largest supplier of MDM in the Philippines, accounting for 20 percent to 25 percent of the imported raw materials needed by meat processors to produce their products.
On August 14, 2020, the Department of Agriculture issued Memorandum Order No. 39 which imposed a temporary ban on the importation of poultry meat originating from Brazil, following reports that SARS-COV 2″•the causative agent of Covid-19″•was detected in a surface sampling conducted in chicken meat imported from Brazil to China.
PAMPI questioned the order, saying that Section 10 of Republic Act No. 10611, or the Food Safety Act of 2013, provides that, “in specific circumstances when the available information for use in risk assessment is insufficient to show that a certain type of food or food products does not pose a risk to consumer health, precautionary measures shall be adopted.”
PAMPI said while the DA based its decision on reports in China that SARS-COV 2 was found in Chicken wings imported from Brazil, China itself did not impose a ban on Brazil products, after finding out that the virus RNA or nucleic acid did not cause any infection on humans.
“China advised the source factories of the sample shipments to be cautious, but it did not impose a ban on Brazil imports,” Agarrado said.
Agarrado said the ban on Brazil poultry was complicated by a separate ban imposed by the DA on poultry products from Australia on concerns over possible bird flu contamination. It is estimated that poultry products from Brazil and Australia account for about 50 percent of the total.
He said the local meat processing industry is now beginning to feel the impact of the import bans. He said that while the industry agreed to hold off any price increase at the start of the pandemic in March as mandated by the Price Act, it was able to do so because of the availability of affordable raw materials from Brazil.
Industry data showed that the Philippines imported 219,062 metric tons of MDM in 2019, about a quarter of which came from Brazil. Poultry imports reached 340,332 MT last year, with a substantial portion coming from the Netherlands and Brazil.
Agarrado said Brazil emerged as a major supplier of poultry products because of its modern dresser systems that resulted in most competitive prices in the world. He said poultry products from Europe and the United States are at least 30-percent higher compared to those from Brazil.
“Because of the ample and affordable supply of poultry products from Brazil, we were not worried over the inventory of our raw materials,” Agarrado said.
“With the availability of poultry products from Brazil, we followed the order of President Rodrigo Duterte, through Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, that we would not increase prices of our products,” he said.
Agarrado said this is no longer possible with the import ban on Brazil poultry products imposed by the DA two weeks ago.
The Department of Trade and Industry’s product monitoring system showed that as of August 14, the country’s inventory of MDM was good for only 30 to 45 days. “This means that after two weeks of the ban on Brazil poultry products, our inventory dwindled to 15 to 30 days,” he said.
Agarrado said the shipping time between Brazil and the Philippines is normally 45 to 60 days.
“PAMPI recognizes and supports our government actions and regulations that will protect the health and safety of our consuming public. In the sourcing of our raw materials, we have always followed internationally accepted and standards and have always allowed ourselves to be governed by science not politics,” Agarrado said.
He said PAMPI takes seriously its commitment to the food security and sustenance of the food chain for the country. In the first 90 days of the lockdown because of Covid-19, the industry produced 300 million canned food products such as corned beef, meat loaf and beef loaf and close to 3 million kilograms of fresh processed meats, most of which were distributed by LGUs as food packs or relief products to Filipino families.
PAMPI said government agencies should help the industry recover from the impact of Covid-19 and ensure food security in the country, instead of imposing unnecessary burden on industry players.
“We continue to beg our government regulators to be enablers of the industry at this time when we need all the help to prop up the economy,” Agarrado said.