Progress on Trade Issues in the Philippines

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Ramon Lopez recently issued a joint statement noting that the two countries have made progress on several key trade issues of specific interest to the U.S. red meat industry. These include collaboration on the development of cold chain requirements and best practices in the Philippines and an agreement to seek improvement in the valuation of agricultural imports for duty collection purposes.

Joel Haggard, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) senior vice president for the Asia Pacific, discusses these issues in more detail and explains their importance to U.S. exporters. Haggard also notes that the Philippines is a rapidly growing destination for U.S. red meat - especially raw material used in further processing. Through August, U.S. pork exports to the Philippines totaled 30,759 metric tons (mt), up 22 percent from a year ago, valued at $73.9 million (up 17 percent). Beef exports were 25 percent ahead of last year’s pace in volume (11,408 mt) and 30 percent higher in value ($55.9 million).

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his counterpart from the Philippines say recent trade talks have resulted in progress on several issues of specific interest to the U.S. red meat industry. U.S. Meat Export Federation Senior Vice President for the Asia Pacific Joel Haggard has more details in this USMEF report:

Joel Haggard: In 2017 the Philippines bought approximately $150 million of U.S. red meat, and we're looking at maybe seeing $200 million of red meat purchases this year. The country has a very advanced meat processing sector which is able to supply affordable protein to most of the population, and much of the raw material used in this processing of items is imported raw material. Although the market has been good it's not without its issues for U.S. exporters. The U.S. as well as other foreign suppliers have confronted a number of trade access problems over the years. Import policies have been subject to political winds as the country has a large agricultural sector and in particular a very politically strong pork industry. So we were encouraged by news from our USTR that the U.S. and Philippine governments have been working through some of the lingering issues that have at times affected our meat trade. Specifically several years back the Philippines attempted to place restrictions on the distribution and sale of frozen imported meat, calling imported defrosted meat, "unhygienic." Our reading of the joint statement last week saw that both countries pledge to invest in capacity building to improve the Philippines' cold chain, which should be good for both domestic and imported products. We're also encouraged by pledges by the Philippines to adhere to WTO practices of customs valuation. In the past imported products and not just from the U.S. have faced issues with customs not assessing import duties on the basis of transaction values but rather arbitrarily assigning a value to imports which often is higher than the transaction price, meaning of course higher import duties.

Joe Schuele: For more information, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.

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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry. It is funded by USDA; the beef, pork, lamb, corn and soybean checkoff programs, as well as its members representing nine industry sectors: beef/veal producing & feeding, pork producing & feeding, lamb producing & feeding, packing & processing, purveying & trading, oilseeds producing, feedgrains producing, farm organizations and supply & service organizations.