May 12, 2008

Philippine Q1 2008 corn output rises 19 percent

Philippine corn output in the first three months of the year grew 19 percent to 2.03 million tonnes as higher prices of the grain encouraged farmers to plant more, a senior official with the agriculture department said Monday (May 12, 2008).

Intensive promotion of high-yielding hybrid corn also contributed to the increase in output, the official said.

However, the output is a little lower than a production forecast of 2.10 million tonnes issued earlier by the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics.

In the BAS forecast made in January this year, corn output in the first half of the year was projected to rise 21 percent to 3.34 million tonnes, due mainly to an increase in cultivated areas.

Second-quarter output was projected to increase 18 percent to 1.24 million tonnes.

Corn prices are currently hovering around PHP12 a kilogram at the farmgate, a 50-percent increase from a year ago. 

Philippines' corn output this year is projected to increase 9 percent to 7.3 million tonnes.