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SLASHING
tariff on feeds and other agricultural products will
impact tremendously on the Bureau of Customs collections
since most of these are already exempted from paying the
value-added tax (VAT), Customs Commissioner Napoleon
Morales said Tuesday.
“[The]
tariff [on] corn starch, for instance, is pegged at 20
percent, with zero-percent VAT. For those coming from
other Asian nations, they only pay the discounted rate
of 3 percent,” Morales said.
Agricultural products are exempted from paying the VAT
under the National Internal Revenue Code.
Morales
said if all groups should prod for exemption from the
payment of tariffs, then “they would be paying
practically nothing for their importations.”
Morales
was responding to the request of swine and poultry
growers to remove the tariffs on raw materials and
reduce the prices of pork and chicken in the local
market.
Three
groups—the Philippine Association of Feed Millers Inc.,
the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. and the
National Federation of Egg Producers of the Philippines
Inc.—have recently submitted a position paper to the
tariff commissioner to rationalize import duties for
soybeans, soybean meal, dried distillers grain soluble
and tapioca residue pellets.
With the
prices of commodities and cost of freight on the rise,
the groups noted that cutting import duties on feed
items will help them cope with higher expenses without
passing on the costs to consumers.
The
group underscored prices of soybeans and soybean meal,
which have nearly doubled from their 2006 levels. The
tariff on soybeans, soybean meal and distillers grain is
3 percent and 35 percent for tapioca pellets. |
