MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine meat exports to Philippines approved

The two countries also agreed on a reciprocal control and certification scheme

Argentina has been cleared to start poultry, pork, beef cuts on the bone, and gibblets to the Philippines through an agreement also contemplating reciprocity between the two countries' control and certification systems, which will speed future approvals, it was announced in Buenos Aires.

“From this authorization, a period of 15 days is established for the official opening of the market and simultaneously allows the technical teams of the Philippine Sanitary Service to start evaluating the veterinary certificates already proposed by Argentina to start exports from our country,” a statement from the Argentine Government this week read.

“The equivalence between the control systems between both countries is an advance that facilitates the qualification of new Argentine establishments that are interested in sending their meat production to that destination,” it added.

The deal came as a result of joint work between the Econnomy Ministry's Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries Secretariat, the National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service (Senasa), and the Argentine Embassy in Manila, it was also explained. “To arrive at these openings, during this year, our country received two visits from Philippine delegations that inspected and verified the official control system of Senasa for the production of beef, pork and poultry meat,” the statement mentioned.

In 2023, the Philippines imported meat and by-products worth more than US$ 1.75 billion from all over the world with a 17% yoy increase between January and October this alone, according to the Philippines' Department of Agriculture.