Gov’t lost P51M in Turkish flour smuggling, millers say

The government might have lost P51 million in revenues from the technical smuggling of Turkish flour in the first five months of the year, according to Ric M. Pinca, executive director of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (PAFMIL).

Pinca said the estimate was contained in documents submitted by PAFMIL to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Pinca said these losses do not include value added tax and import duty losses from flour importations which were declared as other items, such as soybean meal, which enjoys zero duty and are not covered by VAT.

He said smugglers declare import values as low as 24.77 per metric ton or only nine percent of the BOC value reference for Turkish flour of $300 per mt.

Pinca said the losses were incurred from the undervaluation of imports by just eight companies alone but PAFMIL would not reveal the names of the flour importers pending the BOC investigation.

Pinca said one company imported 8,592 mt of Turkish flour but declared only 5,389 mt.. PAFMIL estimates government loss here at P13.8 million.

Another company brought in 7,086 mt. of Turkish flour but declared only 4,961 mt., evading payment of P12.1 million in duties and VAT.

A third importer declared a total of 10,488 mt importation but undervalued it by 23.3 percent, thus evading payment of P6.9 million in VAT and import duties.

Pinca said the first two companies’ shipment came in through the Manila international Container Port (MICP) while the third’s passed through both the MICP and the Port of Manila (POM).

Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/07162010/busi8.html