“It will increase cost and prices of most canned meat products that are also part of basic goods in the SRP system of the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry,” Lopez added. As such, he argued that raising the tariff to 40 percent will only jack up the prices of processed meat and canned products. Lopez said the CTRM voted in favor of retaining 5-percent tariff on MDM because there are no local producers to protect in the first place. “We are in the process of completing by today the official endorsement from each member of the CTRM-Cabinet committee on tariff and related matters, but all member-secretaries have given their support to keep the tariff rates at 5 percent so that we can keep cost down and avert any huge prices increases in processed meat products,” Lopez explained. In June 2019, Duterte issued EO 82 to reduce the tariff for MDM products, which serve as key component for hot dogs and canned luncheon meat, to 5 percent to minimize inflationary pressures. The Cabinet-level Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM) has endorsed to President Duterte its recommendation to retain tariff of MDM at 5 percent, according to Trade Secretary Ramon M. The higher tariff immediately caused prices for MDM from P65 to P85. The Office of the Executive Secretary is still waiting for the formal recommendation of the Cabinet level committee on tariff related matters about this,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque explained. “But this still has to go through the process. In an online press briefing on Monday, Malacañang confirmed the Cabinet has already agreed to reduce the tariff for MDM from 40 percent to 5 percent. President Duterte’s approval of the recommendation is needed, however, in order to stop implementation of the higher (40 percent) rate by the Bureau of Customs, which started to slap the new amount in January, after Executive Order (EO) 82 covering the lower rate expired on December 31, 2020.
A KEY Cabinet panel on tariffs on Monday agreed to endorse maintaining the 5-percent tariff for mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken and turkey to keep stable the prices of processed meat products, which make use of the ingredient.