Section 17Sec./Art. 17

Supply and Distribution. - the Authority shall monitor the importation, manufacture, supply and distribution of dairy products and raw materials for the manufacture or processing of milk and dairy products, as well as the importation and exportation of dairy animals, if the needs of the industry require, it shall, after public hearing and after consultations with the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Finance, and the representatives of the dairy cooperatives and the commercial sector, set guidelines for the importation, exportation and pricing of dairy animals, raw materials and other products necessary for the manufacture or processing of milk and dairy products: Provided, That within a period of three (3) years from the effectivity of this Act, the dairy cooperatives and the commercial sector shall, subject to quality and price considerations, mutually agree upon a volume of local milk production to be absorbed by the commercial sector.

If at the end of the three-year period, the parties mentioned above have not come to a mutual agreement, the commercial sector shall absorb a fixed portion of the local milk supply to be determined by the Authority.

Processors who purchase locally produced milk from dairy cooperatives in excess of the volume prescribed by the Authority shall be accorded tax credits equivalent to ten (10%) percent of the value of the excess volume purchased.