Special safeguard measures sought on onion, deboned chicken, meat imports

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will seek special safeguard (SSG) measures on several imported agricultural products like onion, deboned chicken, and meat products.

Department Order No. 5, Series of 2026, signed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. on Jan. 19, requested that the Bureau of Customs apply additional duties on such products.

A price-based special safeguard  measure allows the government to temporarily raise duties on specific imported products when their prices fall below set thresholds, in order to protect domestic industries from cheap imports.

Under Republic Act No. 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act, the DA may impose SSG duties on agricultural products without a formal investigation once the trigger price is breached on a cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) basis.

The DA said monitoring by its Trade Remedies Office under the Policy Research Service showed that CIF prices of several products breached their respective trigger levels, prompting the request for safeguard duties.

The additional products covered include fresh or chilled onions, with a trigger price of P74.21 per kilo, and frozen mechanically deboned chicken (out of quota) with a trigger price of P93.96 per kilo.

Meat and edible meat offal salted in brine, dried, or smoked, excluding freeze-dried chicken and dried pork skin, were set a trigger price of P70.50 per kilo.

Prepared or preserved meat, meat offal, or blood of turkeys, except mechanically deboned or separated meat, were assigned a trigger price of P259.22 per kilo.

Meanwhile, other preserved meat, meat offal, or blood products, excluding those of turkey and chicken, were set a trigger price of P298.55 per kilo.

The SSG duties will be imposed on a per-shipment basis and will be determined by the difference between the actual CIF price at the time of import lodgment and the applicable trigger price. — Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel