The country’s biggest exporters group and a major farmers’ organization yesterday welcomed the European Union’s (EU) decision to delay the implementation of its new deforestation regulation, saying it would give local producers and exporters more time to prepare for compliance.
‘Of course, if they’re going to postpone it, that’s better. It’s very hard to comply with all the requirements they set. You need to secure certifications and that takes time,’ Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said in a phone interview with The STAR.
Ortiz-Luis said the group was not keen on the new rule since it would likely translate to additional costs and compliance burdens for exporters, particularly small and medium enterprises.
Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) national manager Raul Montemayor shared the same sentiment, saying the extension would give the country a longer window to build the systems and processes needed to meet the EU’s strict traceability requirements.
‘It takes a lot of preparation. For example, if you export coconut products to the EU, you have to prove that they do not come from environmentally destructive farming practices. The traceability system is very complicated, from where the crop was planted to when it reaches the EU,’ Montemayor told The STAR in another phone interview.
Montemayor said that without a proper verification system, local products risk being barred from the EU, which imported pound 194.9 billion (about P11.9 trillion if pound 1=P61) worth of agricultural goods in 2024, according to data from the European Commission (EC).
He added that even with the extension, a year might still not be enough for the country to catch up.
In an advisory last Monday, the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) said the EC has postponed the enforcement of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to December 2026, two years beyond the original 2024 target.