MEAT IMPORTERS & TRADERS ASSOCIATION 91-95 Panay Avenue, Quezon City, Metro Manila Tel. No. (02) 8372 3944 Fax No. (02) 8372 3253 February 24, 2022 Reildrin G. Morales, Director Bureau of Animal Industry Visayas Ave, Diliman Quezon City Re : SPS Application for US and Canadian Origin Poultry Dear Director Morales, We are concerned with the long delay in the issuance of SPS for US and Canadian poultry. Some of our members have been waiting for three weeks when it should not take more than 2-3 days to secure a permit. We understand there is concern with the detection of Avian Influenza (AI) in both countries. However, 1. AI is a notifiable disease and both countries have containment and stamping out procedures in place that are consistent and in accordance with Section 4 of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the The World Organisation for Animal Health (formerly the Office International des Epizooties or OIE). Both countries have been reporting their disease status to the World Organisation for Animal Health and are totally transparent with their current situation and course of action. 2. Both the US and Canada have a system accreditation with our Govt which means the Philippines recognizes the sanitary and phytosanitary standards and best practices of the US and Canada as being equivalent to its own, if not better. In response to our own outbreaks of bird flu, the Philippines has also applied the same compartmentalization, containment, and stamping out procedures outlined in the aforementioned Animal Health Code. 3. There is currently in place a written agreement between the US and the Philippines that any ban would be imposed on a county level (with a containment zone of 10km) while the rest of country is allowed to continue exports to the Philippines. 4. For Canada, there is a precedent established over many years to ban only the affected province. AI was detected in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia, both of which are on the Atlantic side of Canada. The major poultry producing and exporting areas are in Quebec and much further west, up to British Columbia. These provinces are well beyond even the 10 km containment zone used in the USA. 5. The meat processing industry is heavily reliant on mechanically deboned chicken. With virtually all sources in Europe already banned due to AI, the only source countries left with sizeable production capacity are USA, Brazil and Canada. A further ban on the US and Canada is surely going to cause an increase in the cost of the most basic and affordable processed meats. 6. Undue delay in the issuance of SPS can be construed as a non-tariff trade barrier and be used to lodge a complaint with the WTO. Existing protocols have been in place for many years, and experience has proven that they are effective in preventing transmission of AI through frozen poultry shipments. The practical consideration is that AI has now become a yearly occurrence and we must adapt and learn to live with it. Imposing a country wide ban on a nation that has a huge land mass is unwarranted and not supported by any risk assessment. Furthermore, the whole world is now facing inflationary pressures that also threaten our food security. The world market price of pork is widely expected to increase by the summer of 2022 (not to mention that our duty rate will revert to 30/40% in May). It has in fact already started and we are seeing increases across the board from all major pork producing nations. China's absence from the world market is the only factor that is keeping prices from rising precipitously. Poultry will not be spared, but it will at least be more affordable to consumers already struggling with the high price of other proteins and food products. As we have already pointed out in earlier communications to the Department, transit times are now much longer vs pre-pandemic times. We can ill afford a three week delay in the issuance of import permits that is now almost surely to cause a supply gap and a spike in the price of chicken. The price of chicken leg quarter has already increased by 10/kg at the wholesale level. This clearly runs counter to the Government’s efforts to keep food inflation in check. We strongly urge your office to abide by guidelines of the The World Organisation for Animal Health and immediately process and release permits for US and Canadian poultry sourced from areas not affected by bird flu. Sincerely yours, MEAT IMPORTERS & TRADERS ASSOCIATION Sherwin Choi, Vice-President c.c. William Dar, Secretary, Dept of Agriculture osec@da.gov.ph William Medrano, Under Secretary Designate Livestock, Dept of Agriculture usecmedrano@da.gov.ph Fermin Adriano, Under Secretary Policy Planning & Research, Dept of Agriculture fermin.adriano@da.gov.ph Carlos Dominguez III, Secretary, Dept of Finance secfin@dof.gov.ph Ramon Lopez, Secretary, DTI Secretary@dti.gov.ph Karl Kendrick Chua, Secretary, NEDA OSEC@neda.gov.ph Ernesto V. Perez, CPA, Under Secretary, ARTA oddg.operations@arta.gov.ph