The Department of Agriculture (DA) says it is looking for ways to protect price-based special safeguards (SSG) on the addition of imported agricultural products, including frozen beef, chicken, coffee products, sausages, minced pork and onions.
Department Order No. 15, Series of 2026, signed by Secretary of Agriculture Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. on April 20, requested that the Bureau of Customs apply additional duties to such products.
A price-based special protection measure allows the government to temporarily raise tariffs on certain imported products when prices fall below a set threshold, protecting domestic industries from cheap imports.
Republic Act No. 8800 or the Safeguards Act, authorizes The DA will levy SSG duties on agricultural products without formal investigation if the trigger price is breached on a cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) basis.
The DA said monitoring by the Trade Remedies Office, a unit of the Policy Research Service, found that the CIF prices of several products violated their implementation standards, which led to the filing of a safeguard duty request.
Among the products included are frozen chicken meat, edible chicken meat, wings, and cuts, all of which were given a starting price of P93.96 per kilo, and frozen chicken livers priced at P423.55 per kilo.
The order also includes frozen meat of bovine animals, including beef, at a starting price of P89.22 per kilo.
Hams, shoulders, and cuts of pork, salted, dried, or smoked, are assigned a starting price of P79.63 per kilo. Similar products prepared or stored in airtight containers for sale are assigned a starting price of P305.73 per kilogram.
Several coffee products are also included in the plan, such as roasted coffee other than Arabica and Robusta with a trigger price of P134.11 per kilo, and instant coffee preparations and coffee, given a starting price of P203.74 per kilo.
Sausages and similar meat products in airtight containers for sale were assigned a starting price of P65.03 per kilo, while chicken meat products stored in airtight containers were assigned a starting price of P259.22 per kilo.
The order also included other salted, dried, or smoked meats and edible meats, except for frozen ground chicken and dried pork skin, at a price of P70.50 per kilogram.
Other processed and preserved meat products, including turkey-based and non-turkey or chicken meat products, were assigned prices ranging from P259.22 to P298.55 per kilogram.
Meanwhile, fresh and cold onions were priced at P74.21 per kilo.
SSG duties will be imposed on a per-shipment basis and will be determined by the difference between the actual CIF value at the time of importation and the applicable trigger value. – Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel
