March 5, 2007

 

Philippines approves duty-free corn imports

 

 

The Philippine Department of Finance has given the go-ahead for a plan to import around 400,000 tonnes of duty-free corn, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Friday (Mar 2).

 

The Department of Agriculture is expected to approve the proposed imports, after the finance department green-lighted them.

 

Last month, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the department was considering importing 200,000-500,000 tonnes.

 

Yap said the corn imports will have to come in between June and August, which is the off season for corn harvest.

 

The department is considering getting the National Food Authority, the state-owned grains trading firm, to import on behalf of end users, which include the poultry, livestock and feed milling industries, he said.

 

In January, local end users of corn have asked that they be allowed to bring in as much as 700,000 tonnes of corn at zero duty.

 

The import duty on corn is currently pegged at 35percent.

 

The request for duty-free corn imports was made in January after domestic corn prices rose to around 12.50 peso (US$0.25) a kilogramme from around 10.80 peso/kg a month earlier.

 

Corn production in 2006 rose 11 percent to 6.1 million tonnes. Local output, however, still doesn't fully meet the requirements of the livestock and poultry sectors.

 

Corn is a major component of livestock and poultry feeds.