Milk import revenues on uptrend
State revenues generated from milk imports totaled $28.57 million (or P1.63 billion) in the nine months ending September 2024, according to the National Dairy Authority (NDA).
The latest NDA report did not provide the comparative data from the same period a year earlier, but tariff payments have been on the rise between 2020 and 2023.
For the nine-month period, the amount of tariff collected from milk and cream products stood at $17.19 million, while imported cheese totaled $7.92 million.
Payments from imported liquid ready-to-drink (RTD) milk such as fresh milk amounted to $2.39 million while that of skim milk powder stood at $3.82 million.
Meanwhile, tariff payments from imported buttermilk/buttermilk powder reached $3.03 million.
The NDA data also noted that the aggregate tariff rates applied to milk imports hit 3 percent, which has remained at this level since 2022.
Some dairy products were slapped with the following tariff rates — one percent each for liquid RTD milk and buttermilk/buttermilk powder, five percent for evaporated milk and condensed milk, and four percent for cream.
Cheese and curd, meanwhile, were levied with six percent and three percent import duties.
The Philippines imported 2.8 billion liters of dairy as of end-September, rising by 24.7 percent from 2.2 billion liters the year prior.
In terms of value, dairy shipments bound for the archipelago rose by 3.5 percent to P61.09 billion from P59.02 billion.
The majority of imported milk products came from New Zealand and the United States with a share of 29.2 percent and 24.5 percent.
The Philippines virtually relies on importation to meet its growing dairy requirements as domestic production can only cover about one percent of demand.
