Smuggling not only cause of pork problems—Biazon

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Don’t blame pork smuggling for your woes, look at the high cost of its production as well, Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon on Monday told backyard hog raisers who had scored the government’s supposed failure to check pork smuggling which they blamed for their losses.

“It is wrong to say that there is no smuggling, it would be unfair to the (hog raisers),” Biazon said. “What I am saying is, the bulk of the problem is not just smuggling; it is the cost of production (and) of bringing the pork to the market (that explains) why hog raisers earn little,” he said.

Hog raisers have to go through traders to get their product to the wet market, Biazon explained. “Sometimes these traders have to pay for gasoline (and) toll fees. By the time (the pork) gets to the market, the prices are already high. And that excludes the cost of feeds.”

Biazon also pointed out that the bulk of imported pork went  to meat processors, while pork supplies from backyard hog raisers went to the wet markets.  “It is misleading to say that (pork) importers are their competition because the only market (of backyard hog raisers) is the wet market.”

In his discussion with a leading manufacturer of chicharon (pork rind), Biazon said he learned that the businessman depended on imports for his primary source of pork skin “because locally produced pork cannot meet the manufacturer’s demand for both quality and quantity. The same goes for the importation (needs) of meat processors.”

The customs chief said that his bureau had started a 100-percent examination of all reefer vans to make sure that there was no smuggling, particularly of pork, through misdeclarations. But the new directive has other industries complaining about the strict monitoring that is causing a slowdown in trade, he said.

“I have to form a separate task force under the office of the commissioner to closely watch how our people in the frontline are doing their jobs,” Biazon said. The React task force, he said, has a direct oversight function over the frontline personnel of the bureau. “Its primary task is to directly give feedback and information on the performance of (these) employees,” he said.

Hog traders recently declared a two-day pork holiday to protest the government’s supposed failure to check rampant pork smuggling that they said was behind their estimated loss of P8.5 billion from July last year to February this year.