March 28, 2009

Philippines buys 800,000 tonnes feed wheat, 300,000 tonnes corn

Philippine feedmillers have imported around 800,000 tonnes of feed wheat and 300,000 tonnes of corn so far this year, people in the industry said Friday (Mar 27).

The import data was presented during a meeting held Thursday (Mar 26) between industry executives and officials from the Department of Agriculture, they said.

Wheat imports for the year could exceed one million tonnes as feed millers believe the local supply of corn would become tight around middle of the year, one person in the industry said.

"People are predicting there will be a shortage of corn by June," he said.

Based on a recent production survey, corn output in the first six months of the year is expected to decline 2.6 percent from the same period last year to 3.2 million tonnes due to unfavourable weather conditions.

The volume of corn imports has already exceeded the country's minimum access volume, or MAV, of 216,940 tonnes for 2009, but only 43 percent of the MAV quota has been filled because some of the imports have come from fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members Thailand and Indonesia.

MAV refers to the volume of sensitive commodities that the Philippines has committed to bring in at a preferential tariff rate under its commitments to the World Trade Organisation.

Under an ASEAN free trade agreement, corn imports coming from the region are given a tariff of 30%, lower than the MAV tariff of 35 percent.

Corn and wheat can substitute for each other as a major component of livestock and poultry feeds.