Salt tariff collections surge over 260 percent in 2024
Credit to Author: Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas| Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s salt tariff collections more than tripled in 2024, reaching nearly P8.8 million following the implementation of a higher tariff rate, according to the Bureau of Customs.
BOC data showed that the agency collected P8.79 million in tariffs from imported salt last year, marking a 261-percent increase from P2.43 million in 2023.
The significant rise was attributed to the nine percent tariff rate imposed on imported salt under Republic Act 11985, or the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act.
The higher tariff rate took effect in October 2024, approximately six months after President Marcos signed the law, based on BOC records.
Before the enactment of RA 11985, the country’s salt tariff rate was only one percent.
BOC data also revealed that salt tariff collections in the fourth quarter of 2024 surged to P7.75 million, a sharp increase from P835,836 in the same period of 2023.
The fourth-quarter collections alone accounted for 88 percent of total tariffs collected throughout the year.
The revenue generated from salt tariffs is critical as it funds the 10-year Salt Industry Development and Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, established under RA 11985.
The fund aims to revitalize the local salt industry by providing machinery and equipment, constructing storage facilities, conducting extension services, and developing modern salt production and processing technologies.
Industry sources, however, lamented that the salt tariff collections last year could have been higher had the implementation of the new rate not been delayed.
The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. has since proposed a retroactive implementation of the nine percent tariff on shipments that should have been assessed at the higher rate but were instead charged the previous one percent tariff.
Despite the exponential increase, the total salt tariffs collected last year accounted for only 0.37 percent of the P2.35 billion worth of imported salt products.
This is primarily because most imports were sourced from countries covered by free trade agreements (FTAs), which levied them with zero percent tariff.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority identified Australia, China, Thailand and New Zealand as the top salt exporters to the Philippines – all of which are covered by FTAs.
Meanwhile, Marie Annette Dacul, executive director of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agri Business, emphasized the need for the government to explore alternative strategies to strengthen the local salt industry beyond relying on tariff collections.
The country’s salt imports last year fell by 3.6 percent, dropping to 659,443 metric tons from 684,040 metric tons in 2023.