Top PH importers, customs brokers named

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ID-100108246WHICH company in the Philippines accounted for the biggest volume of imports and paid the highest duties, and who processed the most imports?

Based on data from January 2011 to September 2013 published on the government data portal data.gov.ph, the biggest importer by volume was Petron Corp. while one of the oil giant’s brokers, Fredelina A. Pascua, was the top broker.

Copper producer Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (PASAR) topped the list in terms of customs duties paid, with a total payment of P1.86 billion.

The portal has compiled a list of top brokers and importers from statistics from major ports extracted from the Bureau of Customs’ electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system.

The list includes top brokers and importers in terms of volume of imports, cost of goods, insurance and freight (CIF), and amount of customs duties paid.

Petron imported 22.307 billion kilograms and processed P178.905 billion worth of CIF; it paid P902.205 million in customs duties, barely half of the duties PASAR paid.

Another oil giant, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, came in second with 14.494 billion kg and P102.240 billion worth of CIF. However, Shell was not among the top 20 companies that paid the highest customs duties.

PASAR was third-ranked in volume, having imported 8.982 billion kg of cargoes and P53.556 billion worth of CIF.

Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific Air was fourth with 6.323 billion kg of imports followed by Phoenix Petroleum Phils. Inc. with 4.209 billion kg.

In terms of CIF value, oil player Chevron Phils., Inc. was fourth-ranked with P36.364 billion followed by Japanese automotive firm Toyota Motor Phils. Corp. with P31.979 billion.

As for customs duties, Swiss multinational food and beverage company Nestlé Philippines Inc. paid P383.284 million, making it the fourth-biggest payer of duties, while Toyota Motor came in fifth with P376.828 million.

On the brokers’ side, Pascua topped the list in terms of volume and CIF while Ma. Cecilia Belgado Jardin was No.1 in terms of customs duties paid on imports.

Pascua processed P160.112 billion worth of goods, insurance and freight imports, handling 4.737 billion kg and paying P11.217 million in customs duties. Pascua, in a phone conversation with PortCalls, said she has been in the brokering profession for more than a decade, having passed the licensure exam in the late 1990s.

Pascua is happy with the recognition, noting that the reason for her being a top broker is having big clients in her portfolio.

Pascua owns FA Pascua Brokerage and handles oil imports of Petron at Limay Port in Bataan. She said she started handling the accounts of multinational companies in 2008. She was also winner of the top broker award at the Manila International Port in 2012.

Broker Jardin, who is also the manager-import of Associated Freight Consolidators, Inc., paid P1.891 billion in customs duties and is the top third in terms of CIF at P63.719 billion.

Following Pascua is broker Jorge T. Pascual Jr., who processed 3.284 billion kg of import cargoes and paid P115.777 billion in CIF.

Second-ranked in terms of customs duties paid was broker Cristina J. Salvador, at P1.26 billion.

Again for volume, broker Tita D. Austria was ranked third with 2.514 billion kg, of which she paid customs duties totalling P879.656 million. –– Roumina M. Pablo

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net