DA bans poultry products from Michigan

MANILA, Philippines — Importation of poultry products from Michigan has been temporarily banned amid the outbreak of bird flu.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. issued Memorandum Order 24 due to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus in Michigan in the US.

Domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen are covered by the ban.

Bird flu viruses do not normally infect humans but sporadic human infections with avian influenza viruses have occurred, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government should consider increasing the trigger price of its price-based special safeguard (SSG) duties on imported chicken to curb imports and protect local producers, according to non-profit Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM).

The SSG provides immediate and temporary protection to local producers against import surges or cheap importation of competing products, the PRRM said.

A price-based SSG is a trade remedy that allows the country to impose an additional duty on an imported product whose price falls below the established trigger price.

The present trigger prices for price-based SSG-eligible products were computed based on the weighted average of their import prices from 1986 to 1988, as per the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture (WTO-AoA).

Imported chicken’s current trigger price, including whole chicken and cuts, is P93.96 per kilo.

“Strengthening and increasing safeguard duties imposed on chicken give immediate temporary relief to the local broiler sector, without adversely affecting chicken retail price,” PRRM president Edicio dela Torre said yesterday.

The trigger price and its implementation should be reviewed every six months “when excess supply is expected to go above 60 days in inventory based on Department of Agriculture forecasts,” Dela Torre proposed.

At present, the government’s hands are tied to WTO-AoA’s existing rules. – Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas