Special safeguard measures loom for more farm imports

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is seeking price-based special safeguard (SSG) measures on additional imported agricultural products, including frozen bovine meat, chicken cuts, coffee products, sausages, processed pork items, and onions.

Department Order No. 15, Series of 2026, signed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. on April 20, requested that the Bureau of Customs apply additional duties on such products.

A price-based special safeguard measure allows the government to temporarily raise duties on specific imported products when their prices fall below set thresholds, to protect domestic industries from cheap imports.

Republic Act No. 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act, authorizes  the DA to impose SSG duties on agricultural products without a formal investigation once a trigger price is breached on a cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) basis.

The DA said monitoring by its Trade Remedies Office, an arm of the Policy Research Service, found that CIF prices of several products breached their respective trigger levels, prompting the request for safeguard duties.

Among the products covered were frozen chicken meat, edible offal, wings, and cuts, all assigned a trigger price of P93.96 per kilo, as well as frozen chicken livers with a trigger price of P423.55 per kilo.

The order also covers the frozen meat of bovine animals, which includes beef, at a trigger price of P89.22 per kilo.

Hams, shoulders, and cuts of swine, salted, dried, or smoked, were assigned a trigger price of P79.63 per kilo. Similar products prepared or preserved in airtight containers for retail sale were assigned a trigger price of P305.73 per kilo.

Several coffee products were likewise included in the order, such as roasted coffee other than Arabica and Robusta with a trigger price of P134.11 per kilo, and instant coffee and coffee preparations, which were assigned a trigger price of P203.74 per kilo.

Sausages and similar meat products in airtight containers for retail sale were assigned a trigger price of P65.03 per kilo, while preserved chicken meat products in airtight containers were assigned a trigger price of P259.22 per kilo.

The order also covered other meat and edible meat offal salted, dried, or smoked, excluding freeze-dried diced chicken and dried pork skin, with a trigger price of P70.50 per kilo.

Other prepared and preserved meat products, including turkey-based and non-turkey or chicken meat products, were assigned trigger prices ranging from P259.22 to P298.55 per kilo.

Meanwhile, fresh and chilled onions were assigned a trigger price of P74.21 per kilo.

The SSG duties will be imposed on a per-shipment basis and will be determined by the difference between the actual CIF price at the time of import lodgment and the applicable trigger price. — Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel