Tariff from meat import hits P22 billion in 2025

MEAT imports in 2025 gave a record-high of over P22 billion in tariffs and taxes, driven by higher volume as the country continued to depend on foreign supplies to meet its growing animal protein requirement.

In a report, the House of Representatives’ Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) computed the government’s tariff and value added tax (VAT) revenues from meat importation from 2023 to 2025 using Bureau of Customs (BOC) data.

The government earned P22.45 billion in revenues from imported meat products, up by 30 percent from the P17.3 billion collected in 2024, according to CPBRD.

About 99.9 percent of the revenues came from tariffs while the remaining amount came from VAT. Most imported meat products are exempted from VAT since they are agricultural commodities.

Some of the meat imports subjected to the 12 percent VAT are marinated, seasoned, cured or canned meat products, CPBRD said.

The tariffs slapped on imported meat range from five  to 40 percent