MANILA, Philippines— No one is forcing people to bring in 400,000 metric tons (MT) of imported pork products.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III repeated this on Tuesday when senators quizzed government officials about the proposal to increase the minimum access volume of pork imports from 54,000 MT to 400, 000 MT.
At the hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole, Dominguez underscored the need to raise pork imports to address the shortage of local hog production brought about by the Asian Swine Fever outbreak.
READ: Consumer gains due to lowered pork import tariffs ‘dwarf’ lost revenue — DOF chief
When Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III aired the stakehold…
Keep on reading: Finance chief defends higher pork imports: Nobody is forced to bring in 400,000MT