March 25, 2004

Philippines Ban Corn Imports From China, Indian State

The Philippines has excluded China and the Indian state of Assam as possible corn import sources to deter a possible outbreak of bird flu in the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture said Thursday.
 
This brings to five the total number of areas from which corn imports won't be allowed to enter the Philippines. The department earlier said it would bar corn imports from Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia to prevent a bird flu outbreak in the Philippines.
 
The National Food Authority wants to import up to 350,000 metric tons of corn in a tender April 2 to meet domestic requirements. The NFA will buy the corn at zero-tariff on behalf of poultry and livestock farmers and feed millers.
 
In a memorandum to Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, agriculture officials sought the ban.
 
"We should take the conservative step of protecting our poultry industry by outrightly excluding Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and China as possible sources for the 350,000 ton corn importation," the agriculture officials said.
 
Corn program director Artemio Salazar, livestock program director Pete Ocampo and Bureau of Animal Industry director Jose Molina signed the memorandum.
 
According to the three officials, the latest advisory from the Food and Agriculture Organization "shows that avian flu is prevalent in the said countries, which are also major corn producers."
 
As for India, there is suspicion that there are bird flu cases in the state of Assam and corn from that state should thus be excluded, the officials said.
 
They added that they are amenable to importing corn from the U.S. "because the corn producing states are different from where avian flu is established." Confirmed outbreaks of bird flu were reported in the U.S. states of Texas, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
 
The Bureau of Animal Industry earlier said the country should avoid buying corn from bird flu infected areas as corn could serve as a "mechanical carrier" of the disease.
 
The Philippines has remained free of the bird flu virus even as the disease has affected 10 of its Asian neighboring countries.