'Review FTAs to make higher salt tariff effective'

The government should review some of its free trade agreements (FTAs) to ensure that the higher salt tariff rate would make an impact on the lives of local salt farmers, stakeholders said.

- By JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. president Danilo Fausto pointed out that the increase in salt tariff to nine percent from one percent would not make significant impact on the domestic industry since most of the imported supplies enter the country tariff-free under FTAs.

"There is a need to review tariff agreements if we are serious in developing the affected industries. Or else, laws that were passed giving support to industries will be useless," Fausto told The STAR.

The STAR earlier reported that the government has started to impose higher tariff rate on imported salt pursuant to Republic Act 11985 or the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act.