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BOC collects 18.6% more rice import duties from Jan to March 13 year-on-year
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The Bureau of Customs took in P7.35B in rice import duties
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The amount represents 73% of the P10-billion fund earmarked yearly for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund
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The latest collection came from 1.26 million metric tons of rice, 43.3% more than the year-on-year volume
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Pork imports worth P5.3 billion had already overtaken the estimated amount of forgone revenues
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From April 9, 2021 to May 13 this year, the total volume of pork imports reached 330 million kg
The Bureau of Customs collected 18.6% more rice import duties from January 1 to March 13 this year to P7.35 billion vis-a-vis the year-on-year collection of P6.2 billion, the Department of Finance said in a statement.
The latest amount represents 73% of the P10-billion fund earmarked yearly for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to finance the modernization of the agriculture sector and raise income of rice farmers.
The collection was derived from 1.26 million metric tons (MT) of rice shipments, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III at a recent Department of Finance executive committee meeting.
The volume is 43.3% greater than the 883,068 MT recorded from January to May 13 last year.
Under Republic Act No. 11203, or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), tariffs collected from rice imports go to the RCEF. Collections in excess of the P10-billion fund go to the Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA). The law took effect on March 5, 2019.
Guerrero said the value of rice has continued to drop, falling 17% from P20,126 per MT in the January 1-May 13 period last year to P16,710 per MT year-on-year.
Pork imports
For pork imports, Guerrero said that as of May 13 BOC collected import duties amounting to P5.3 billion from a total volume of 330 million kilograms, already overtaking the estimated amount of forgone revenues from earlier presidential orders lowering import tariffs on pork.
The presidential orders were implemented from April 9, 2021 until May 13 this year. Out of the 330 million kg that entered the country during that period, 102 million kg was processed from January 1 to May 13 this year.
From April 9, 2021 to May 13, 2022, BOC estimates it lost P5.1 billion in import duties from pork shipments.
Executive Order No. 128, signed on April 7, 2021, reduced the most-favored nation (MFN) tariff rate on pork imports within the minimum access volume (MAV) to 5% and the tariff on pork imports outside MAV to 15% for the first three months of the order’s effectivity. EO 128 was in effect from April 7 to May 14 last year.
EO 134, signed on May 15, 2021, superseded EO 128 as a compromise between the government’s economic team and the Senate in consideration of the effects of the reduced tariff on the local hog industry. EO 134 adjusted the tariff on pork imports to10% within the MAV or in-quota and to 20% outside the MAV or out-quota for the first three months, and 15% for in-quota and 25% for out-quota from the fourth to the 12th month.
EO 134’s one-year effectivity began on May 15, 2021.
Meanwhile, EO 133, signed on May 10, increased the MAV for pork imports in 2021 from 54,210 MT to 254,210 MT, provided any unavailable balance at the end of 2021 would not be carried over to 2022.
