PH Is Urging Brazil to Lower Their Tariffs on Coconut Products

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has mentioned that their high-ranking officials held a meeting with diplomats from Brazil to discuss agricultural cooperation between the two countries. In the meeting, Manila requested Brazil to lower its tariffs on coconut items from the Philippines to increase the competitiveness of the products in the market of Brazil.

Currently, Brazil’s tariffs on Philippine coconut and coconut-related products stand at 55%.

“Desiccated coconuts, coconut water and concentrates, virgin coconut oil, and fractions of unrefined coconut oil are among the top ten Philippine export products to Brazil,”  mentioned the DA.

The total value of exports of Philippine coconut items to Brazil decreased last 2021 by 30% year-on-year to $5.041 million.

The data from the Philippine Statistics Authority shows that volumes of coconut shipment to Brazil decreased by 2.223 million kilograms or 46.27% from a previous 4.14 million kg in 2020.

In 2021, shipments of Philippine items to Brazil hit $191.290 million, making this 18.3% higher than the recorded 2020 figure of $161.712 million.

Philippine exports to Brazil last 2021 were electronic products at approximately $137.766 million, chemicals at $12.119 million, and seaweeds at $9.737 million.

In the meeting with Brazil, Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban mentioned to Brazilian Ambassador Jose Maria de Souza e Silva that the Philippines plans on importing more items such as sexed riverine buffalo sperm, porcine meat from Brazil while exporting more fishery products.

“A joint team consisting of Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA) and the Philippines’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) shall be created to study processes and procedures to adopt in order to maintain a dynamic Philippines-Brazil relation in agriculture,” mentioned the DA.

Source: Business Mirror