April 30, 2007
Philippines to invest 2 billion peso to lower post-harvest corn losses
The Philippine National Food Authority (NFA) has allocated 2 billion peso (US$42 million) in investment in 2007 to increase the availability of corn for local feed milling, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Friday (Apr 27).
The allocation will be used for the installation of drying and storage facilities to help reduce post-harvest losses for corn, estimated at more than 10 percent of total output, Yap told reporters.
"The NFA council approved it about a month ago," Yap said. The NFA is a state-owned grains trading firm under the supervision of the agriculture department.
The installation of post-harvest facilities will be concentrated in major corn producing areas in the country, Yap said.
This year, corn production is projected at a record high of 6.9 million tonnes, up 13.7 percent from last year. The projected increase is attributed to increased hectarage due to high prices of the grain in the local and global markets.
Despite an expected record output this year, the shortfall in local supply is estimated around 1 million tonnes, said Butch Umengan, executive director of the National Corn Board.
While shortfalls in local supply were met by wheat imports in previous years, this substitution is no longer a viable option for feedmillers.
"Current prices are prohibitive," said Norman Ramos, president of the Philippine Association of Feed Millers, Inc.
Another feed milling official said Philippine imports of feed wheat in the first six months of the year are expected to fall by 58 percent to reach only 273,751 tonnes due to high prices in the global market.
This year, most of the country's wheat imports will come from China.
Imports in the first six months of 2006 totalled 660,230 tonnes.
Indicative prices of wheat imports hover around US$235/tonne, C&F basis, against an average price level of only US$140/tonne a year ago, the official added.
Wheat and corn are major components of livestock and poultry feeds.
