Meat vendors protest entry of cheap imported meat
THE Department of Trade and Industry has advised the Dagupan City government to call a dialogue among all stakeholders to discuss the implications of entry of frozen imported meat sold at cheaper prices, which have recently been coming in large quantities into the city’s market.
DTI Regional Director Florante Leal said the dialogue must be attended by local meat vendors and representatives of the consuming public who are buying the frozen imported meat.
Local meat vendors are protesting against the imported meat products being sold at a much lower price of P160 per kilo against the P240 per kilo price for fresh meat sourced from the slaughterhouse in Mangaldan.
Consumers have reportedly been buying more of the frozen meat.
The frozen imported meat is being delivered to Dagupan by white refrigerated vans with a marking of the National Meat and Inspection Service (NMIS).
Leal said an NMIS official who came to Dagupan with him confirmed that the frozen imported meat coming in are part of imports made by the government to fill up local demand.
Leal said although the DTI has no jurisdiction on agricultural products such as meat, it is still responsible for protecting consumers’ rights.
OTHER GOODS
In another development, Leal assured that prices of manufactured products being sold in Region 1 have not increased.
On the contrary, he said, prices of manufactured products like powdered milk even went down.
At the same time, DTI assured the availability of cement this summer as the two cement plants in the region, Holcim in La Union and Northern Cement in Pangasinan, are both at 100 percent production.
Cement is currently sold in the region at P204 per bag.–LM
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