DA prepares new rules on MAV allocation
By MARIANNE V. GO
The Philippine Star (September 17, 2007)

          Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap hopes to have a new set, of rules on the allocation of minimum access volume (MAV) by January next year following a review to make the current system more responsive during periods of shortage.

          While Yap wants to liberalize the grant of allocation to importers, the United Broilers' and Raisers Association '(UBRA) wants control of the MAV to be returned to the producers who are more aware of the supply and demand situation.      

          Likewise, poultry growers want a more specific time-bound schedule for MAV allocations to ensure predictability.

          There are two proposals. UBRA's proposal is for the MAV to be divided into 12 periods represented by the months of the year. Sen. Manuel A. Roxas' proposal is to set the MAV for the first three quarters and leave the last quarter floating.

          UBRA corporate secretary Elias Jose Enciong stressed the need for predictability for the poultry sector, warning that the MAV system can disrupt local production.

          In a position paper submitted to Yap, UBRA argued that importers do not take into consideration the local volume of production, but merely focus on the price of the product in the international market.

          As a consequence, UBRA pointed out, when international prices are low, imports come in and result in a temporary glut which, in turn, causes lo­cal farm gate prices to crash.

          Local producers then reduce their live chicken production and sell their breeder eggs as table eggs.

           A prolonged period of high farm gate prices would follow as local producers have to catch up on live chicken pro­duction which/in turn, also affects egg production as the growers have already sold their breeder eggs as table eggs and need time to shift production to breeder eggs for live chicken production.

           This destabilizing pattern of importation under the MAV, UBRA said, is reflected in the 2006 and 2007 import figures.

            For the first quarter of this year, UBRA cited an increase of 60.39 percent compared with the first quarter of 2006.

            For the second quarter, however, there was a decrease of 45.45 percent.

            UBRA said while in 2006 there was an increase of 80.84 percent in imports from the first to the second quarter, there was a decrease of 38.5 percent for 2007. Considering mat 2007 is an election year, UBRA said this can only be explained by an increase in the price of imports wherein prices reached $1.40 per kilo.