Cheese, buttermilk drive increase in dairy tariff revenues
Dairy tariff revenues rose by 10.3 percent year-on-year to P1.8 billion in the nine months ending September, driven by higher collections from cheese and buttermilk imports.
Data from the National Dairy Authority (NDA) showed that the nine-month tariff collection had accounted for 81.4 percent of the full-year import revenues of P2.21 billion recorded in 2024.
Among milk products, the highest collection came from cheese imports with $9.81 million (about P579.96 million), up 23.9 percent.
Skim milk powder came next with $3.63 million (P214.6 million), falling by 5 percent.
The government generated $3.55 million (P209.87 million) in revenues from buttermilk/buttermilk powder, a 17.2-percent increase.
On the other hand, tariff revenues from liquid ready-to-drink milk dropped by 2.1 percent to $2.34 million (P138.34 million).
The NDA data showed that the value of dairy imports had climbed by 7.01 percent to P65.37 billion during the nine-month period, “reflecting higher global prices despite lower volumes.”
Dairy imports stood at 2.59 billion liters in the January to September period, a 4.35 percent decrease, with the market share of the top two supplying countries declining to 52.95 percent.
New Zealand is the country’s leading milk supplier with a share of 29.3 percent, followed by the United States with 23.65 percent.
Other countries that supplied milk to the Philippines were Australia (5.29 percent), Indonesia (4.68 percent) and Denmark (4.04 percent).
According to the NDA, the aggregate tariff rate on milk imports has been maintained at 3 percent since 2022.
