House of Representatives Resolution Seeks to Ban Palm Oil Imports

Quezon filed House Resolution No. 2519, which urged the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other agencies to halt palm oil imports to support the coconut industry.  Quezon is a leading producer of coconut in the country. “I’m alarmed by the price of copra now. It’s too low. I’m asking the Department of Trade and Industry to stop the importation of palm oil,” Representative Suarez said in a briefing last week.  “Under our ASEAN tariff agreement, palm oil is charged zero tariffs. Unfortunately palm oil is cheaper than coconut oil,” he said.
   
The resolution follows a finding by the Department of Agriculture that palm oil imports are hurting the price of copra. Copra currently trades for about P15 per kilo on average, well below the P30-40 average price from previous years. “The surge of palm oil imports causes a shift in demand from coconut oil to palm oil due to the cheaper price of the latter.  This, in turn, injures the coconut industry (due to) the continuous decline of copra farmgate prices,” according to the resolution. “This economic situation affects the livelihood of the country’s coconut farmers which are mostly living in poverty.” The Minority Leader said the DTI should consider increasing copra prices to P25.