|
By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, Reporter
LOCAL flour miller groups on
Thursday appealed before the government for a halt to under-valued
Chinese imports.
In a briefing, Ric M. Pinca,
executive director of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers
Inc., said local millers are already threatened by the mounting
influx of smuggled flour from China.
He said that importers cut the
price of flour by to 80 percent of actual value, or from $470 per
metric ton to $73.
He said importers declare no more
than $365 per metric ton, which is still way below the original
price of $470 per metric ton after removing the 13 percent Chinese
government subsidy and the inclusion of the 25 percent export tax.
“The Bureau of Customs does not
even bother to look at this rampant undervaluation, considering that
it is not even within the price range,” Pinca said.
Flour millers groups had raised
this matter to the attention of Customs but the problem remains
unresolved, Pinca said.
He said imported flour pre-viously
accounted for 3 to 4 percent of the total market, but has grown to 7
percent in recent years. “They can afford to lower their price
since it is severely under-valued,” he added.
The prevailing price of hard
flour stood at P670 to P880, while soft flour cost P670 to P780.
“Local flour millers are
alarmed by this influx of this undervalued and low quality flour
products eating up the local market, thus the government should
address this problem to save the local industry and protect its
consumers,” Pinca said.
The local market for flour stands
at 1.5 million metric tons.
|
