An improved valuation method implemented by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on taxing mobile or cellular phone (cellphone) shipments entering the country has resulted to a 27-percent jump in revenues to P2 billion in the first four months of this year, despite lower volumes of these imports compared to the same period in 2020.
Preliminary data presented by the BOC to Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez III showed that the volume of cellphone imports from January 1 to April 30 totaled 660,000 kilograms (kg), lower by 30.4 percent compared to the 950,000 kg imported during the same period last year.
Despite the lower import volumes, though, the BOC reported to Dominguez during a recent DOF executive committee (Execom) meeting that the bureau was able to collect P2 billion, which was P426.76 million or 27.1 percent more compared to the P1.57 billion collected during the same period in 2020.
Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero told Dominguez the bigger revenue take was the result of the BOC’s better valuation of cellphone imports, which are now taxed per piece and by brand, instead of the previous method of taxing them by volume.
“It was mainly because of the entry of high-end cellphones and telecommunications equipment, and also because of better valuation,” Guerrero said of the improved revenue collection during the Execom meeting.
The BOC also collected P24.79 million from mobile phone parts from January 1 to April 30, which was 10.86 million or 78 percent more than last year’s P13.94 million despite almost the same volume of these goods entering the country in both periods.
Imports of other types of telecommunications equipment and devices hauled in P3.46 billion in revenues for the BOC this year as of April 30, which was P758 million or 28 percent more than the P2.7 billion collected during the same period in 2020.
In total, the BOC was able to collect P5.49 billion from imports by the telecommunications sector as of April 30, representing a 28-percent improvement from the P4.3 billion collection during the same period last year.
In the same Execom meeting, Guerrero also reported collections of P5.67 billion in rice import duties from January 1 to April 30 of this year.
Preliminary data showed that from January 1 to April 30, a total of 804,360 metric tons (MT) of rice shipments worth P17 billion entered the country, representing a 9.2-percent decline from the 885,645 MT valued at P16.4 billion that were imported during the same period last year.
Because of the similar improvement in the rice valuation system implemented by the BOC, the revenues collected from the January 1-April 30 imports amounted to P5.67 billion, which was 3.7 percent more than the P5.46 billion collected during the same period in 2020, despite lower import volumes of the grain this year.
From an average of P18,508 per metric ton (MT) during the same period in 2020, the average value of rice imports rose to P21,096 per MT in 2021, which is an increase of 14 percent, Guerrero said.
Guerrero said rice import volumes fell in March and April because of the local harvest season.
All import duties collected from rice imports beginning March 5, 2019 go to the annual P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) for the benefit of local palay growers, as provided under Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
Guerrero said the value of rice imports fell in April because these were mostly shipments of husked rice, which is of lower value than milled rice varieties.
“Well, actually, that’s better because when you import husk, you know, the darak is a by-product so that’s good for the feed industry and, of course, our millers also have work,” Dominguez, a former agriculture secretary, said.
