Regulating/banning imported meat?

[sharkey360]

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Does anyone favor this proposal by local farmers? We know that many local businesses and consumers buy imported meat for lots of reasons.

Farmers call for regulation, ban of imported meat

A federation of farmers raised at a congressional public hearing Thursday the negative impact of the influx of imported meat into the wet markets has on their business.

They called for a regulation of meat importation or, going for the extreme, a total ban of imported meat in the country.

The suggestion to impose a ban drew opposition from meat importers.

Pecos Libumfacil, president of the Cebu Provincial Federation of Farmers, said the local meat producers have been losing profits since importing meat became easier and cheaper.

He said consumers prefer buying imported meat, which sells for P60 to P85 per kilo, to local meat, which is P90 to P180 per kilo.

Rolando Tambago, president of the Central Visayas Pork Producers’ Cooperative, said the government should implement a total ban on imported meat “whether it’s pork, beef or poultry” because imported meat is “killing our local products.”

A ban will relieve the local farmers of the burden of poor profits brought about by competition from meat importers, he said.

He said local farmers don’t oppose meat importation as long as it is regulated.

“Hindi pa-sobra sobra na ang maging epekto ay super flooded na ang market (Not too much such that the market is flooded with imported meat),” Tambago said.

During the public hearing conducted by the House committee on agriculture and food at the Capitol, Tambago presented figures showing that pork importation for the period January-October 2010 increased by 241.5 percent from the same period last year.

Tambago said local meat dealers began feeling the effects of the huge increase of importation in 2007 but did not mind the effects much until they noticed that even on peak months for meat consumption, there was less demand for local meat but more for imported meat.

Also, meat dealers have noted that the lack of cold storage facilities and poor meat handling in the local markets contribute to a decrease in the demand for local meat.

Tambago said they will see if the Department of Agriculture (DA)’s administrative order, which will be published in newspapers Friday, has put in place enough mechanisms to protect local meat dealers.

He said meat importation should be based on realistic regional demand and port entry of imported meat should be strictly monitored for disease and chemical contamination.

Jude Darry Del Rio, general manager of the meat importing company Judphilan, said totally banning the imported meat in the Philippines goes against the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, of which the country is a signatory.

Del Rio allayed fears over the safeness of eating imported meat.

“We’re very sure that (the meat we’re importing) is clean. Before countries export meat to the Philippines, they need to have all the necessary health certificates and all the necessary laboratory tests. Once the meat arrives here, it’s certified by the Bureau of Animal and the National Meet Inspection Service (NMIS),” Del Rio said.

Judphilan imports 25 to 30 container vans of meat every month and distributes the meat in the Visayas and Mindanao. One van carries 25,000 kilos of meat.

It imported meat worth 28 containers this month for the holidays, said Del Rio, who began importing meat 13 years ago.

Representative Eduardo Gullas (Cebu Province, 1st district) said a total ban on imported meat can have adverse effects on the country.

Representative Mark Mendoza, chairman of the House committee of agriculture and food, said the committee is noting the points raised at the public hearing. The committee will hold similar hearings in Davao and General Santos and will collate the results of all the public hearings and come up with recommendations.

Farmers call for regulation, ban of imported meat | Sun.Star Network Online

[chinitoe]

i agree on regulating it, while banning in the wet markets. why??

1. as most consumers dont know, these frozen meat is delivered 10pm at carbon market to thaw, sold at 4am to 2pm under 34 celcius of heat. thats atleast 16 hrs of non refgigeration. u buy it and put it in freezer to get frozen around 4 hrs. imagine 20 hrs if bacteria building up

2. fresh meat has enzymes to fight off bacteria for 8 to 10 hrs.

3. Its killing all the farmers, which employs 40,000 families in visayas alone. 4. most imported meats are pork neck ( 80% fats) mixed in ur adobo cut, and ground pork. which u dont know.

5. it cost 70 per kg, and mixed in adobo cut, still sold to you at 170 per kg.

6. it will also kill the lechon industry which get their supply from the backyard farmers.

7. these frozen meat n fats were only for the processors for the longest time, until this year they smuggled tons of it, and dont know what to do with it. rather than paying for freeze storage daily, they decided to dump it to the wet markets.

8. now its even here in istorya, u dont know how many times this box 10to 25 kgs have been defrosted to get some portions to sell and frozen again and again.

9. btw, its already illegal to sell these other than to food processors, after the congetional hearing, it should also be banned here in istorya.

10. ban only applies to chicken and pork, which our quality can match imported premium cuts. and not beef coz we truly cannot match imported beef such as angus and wagyu. hope this clears everything

[sharkey360]

Editorial - Let free market forces rule the meat industry | The Freeman >> The Freeman Sections >> Freeman Opinion

[phil8s]

d gyd malikayan ang imported meat..mao ni ang gamit sa mga fastfood chain ug mga restaurants...usually...

[lazyreyes]

tungod sa kalisud mo sugal nalang ta ug palit aning frozen imported meat. ako nakapalit man sad ko ani lami man sad noon he he kanang jowl akong gipalit tag 90 ra ang kilo. gi adobo nako kanang kagumkum gyud pwerte lamia he he

[chinitoe]

Editorial - Let free market forces rule the meat industry | The Freeman >> The Freeman Sections >> Freeman Opinion


so lets just import all the rice and meat that we want coz its cheap, when the times comes there will be disasters, drought from these countries that we source from... do you think theyll sell to us? no theyll feed themselves first and stop all the exports. now what the heck are we gonna eat for a year since all the rice, corn, chiken n pork farmers are no longer there?

8 million farmers will lose income and so will other industies like telco( cant afford load anymore) clothing etc.

just my 2 cents.


just to infrom you guys,

last year, farm gate price for pork is 135 per kg carcass. in which the butcher sells for 170 to 180 per kg.

today farm gate price is 115 per kg. and carbon price is still 170 to 180 per kg. they even mix those imported meat which they buy at 70 per kg and still sell at 180per kg.
SRP of meat should have been at 150 per kg at todays price.

it is not the farmers that is benefiting, it isnot consumers also... but the meat traders. the meat traders doesnt want to ban the imported pork, its the farmers... i think the editor is miss informed about the facts

[dirk14]

I agree on the cheap quality meat that compete with the localmeat. hopefully the imported steaks dnt get affected heeeh

[cheaptech]

Editorial - Let free market forces rule the meat industry | The Freeman >> The Freeman Sections >> Freeman Opinion


so lets just import all the rice and meat that we want coz its cheap, when the times comes there will be disasters, drought from these countries that we source from... do you think theyll sell to us? no theyll feed themselves first and stop all the exports. now what the heck are we gonna eat for a year since all the rice, corn, chiken n pork farmers are no longer there?

8 million farmers will lose income and so will other industies like telco( cant afford load anymore) clothing etc.

just my 2 cents.


just to infrom you guys,

last year, farm gate price for pork is 135 per kg carcass. in which the butcher sells for 170 to 180 per kg.

today farm gate price is 115 per kg. and carbon price is still 170 to 180 per kg. they even mix those imported meat which they buy at 70 per kg and still sell at 180per kg.
SRP of meat should have been at 150 per kg at todays price.

it is not the farmers that is benefiting, it isnot consumers also... but the meat traders. the meat traders doesnt want to ban the imported pork, its the farmers... i think the editor is miss informed about the facts

If we are to use your logic on your negativism about imports.

Lets take for example our BISAYANG Manok
why are consumers willing to pay more for a kilo of Bisayang Manok?

its about MARKETING.

Why is Cebu Lechon best in the World... because its NATIVE pig.

Imported pigs will never taste the same even if you LECHON it Bisaya style.

Local Hogs are expensive because of INEFFICIENT growers.
Why let the consumers suffer for the INEFFICIENCY?

before there was no imported pork meat. HOG Growers were enjoying VERY HIGH Prices.... and consumers were suffering.

Now that there is imported meat they are lowering their price which is good for consumers.

I for one Buy local meat. BUT I HAVE TO THANK the IMPORTED meat because it LOWERED the price of LOCAL MEAT.

The LESSON here is TO COMPETE.
Make the HOG RAISERS more EFFICIENT.
Make them PRICE their MEAT competitively

AGAIN your LOGIC that importation will kill the PIG INDUSTRY is shortsighted.

IF we always Protect our PIG PRODUCERS they will grow LAZY and KEEP PRICES HIGH.

I KNOW the PIG RAISERS are FORMING a CARTEL like our OIL players.
They Fix their price among themselves to the detriment of CONSUMERS.

its a SIMPLE FACT.... the PIG RAISERS NEVER cared for the CONSUMERS. They KEEP Increasing their PRICE

The PIG RAISERS care only about their WALLETS

The Consumers care on what goes into their STOMACH.
Best PRICE will ALWAYS win.

These PIG growers keep on saying that imported meat are spoiled.
They are just Spreading RUMORS to scare people

They haven't PRODUCE any shred of evidence from LABORATORY Test conducted on imported meat.

[epoaxlan]

mas maau ni kay daghan advantage sa atoa, labi na sa local farmers..BTW asa ta makapalit ug fresh meat diri sa cebu? how about kanang monterey or magnolia fresh bana ila gamit or imported pod?

[chinitoe]

[QUOTE=cheaptech;8743506]If we are to use your logic on your negativism about imports.

The LESSON here is TO COMPETE.
Make the HOG RAISERS more EFFICIENT.
Make them PRICE their MEAT competitively

AGAIN your LOGIC that importation will kill the PIG INDUSTRY is shortsighted.

IF we always Protect our PIG PRODUCERS they will grow LAZY and KEEP PRICES HIGH.

I KNOW the PIG RAISERS are FORMING a CARTEL like our OIL players.
They Fix their price among themselves to the detriment of CONSUMERS.



Hi cheaptech pls read carefully my post above.

last year, farm gate price for pork is 135 per kg carcass. in which the butcher sells for 170 to 180 per kg.

today farm gate price is 115 per kg. and carbon price is still 170 to 180 per kg. they even mix those imported meat which they buy at 70 per kg and still sell at 180per kg.
SRP of meat should have been at 150 per kg at todays price.

it is not the farmers that is benefiting, it isnot consumers also... but the meat traders. the meat traders doesnt want to ban the imported pork, its the farmers... i think the editor is miss informed about the facts

-its not the farmers enjoying but the traders and the butcher at carbon

- i think this is the cycle
1. imports come in, bringing the price very low
2. some farmers stop raising, they stop imports
3. prices soon go up beacuse of shortage, so farmers produce again
4. govt, thinks there will be a shortage and
5. back to number 1.

if the govt will regulate imports for the next 5 years, i see price stabilizing and lowering itself beacuse the local farmers will be competing agiants themselves to sell the produce.

sir, i dont think your familiar with how we the trade goes on. the farmers are always at the mercy of traders or byahero, they call the prices and jack them up.. now vendors on the other hand doesnt want to bring down the retail price even if the purchase cost goes lower. hence for the high price.

where do you buy your cheap pork as u said? i dont know any vendor bringing down the price?

if your talking about virginia pork shop, its a local farm, and the price they are selling is the true price of pork now. which is 150 to 160. not 170 to 180 in carbon... again mix with imported fats.
3.