August 21, 2007

End-users in Philippines plan to import 80,000 tonnes tax-free corn
 

Philippine feed millers, livestock and poultry raisers want to import 80,000 tonnes of tax-free corn to fill in an expected shortfall in domestic output, a senior agriculture department official said Tuesday (Aug 21).

These domestic end-users are seeking approval from the agriculture department to schedule a buy tender, the official said.

Once approved, the National Food Authority, a state-owned grains trading firm, will conduct the buy tender on behalf of end-users for a fee. NFA is the only company that is allowed to import grains at zero duty.

The official said guidelines from the policy department are pending because the department wants to ensure that imports would not lower prices of domestically grown corn. Farmers in the Philippines are harvesting the major corn crop.

The 80,000-tonne volume represents the remainder from a 200,000-tonne tax-free corn import quota allocated to domestic end-users for 2007. Corn imports to the Philippines are taxed at 35 percent.

In April, Philippine end-users of corn such as feed millers and livestock raisers bought 120,000 tonnes of Argentine corn at US$215.48-215.50/tonne on a cost and freight basis.

On top of the 80,000-tonne unused corn import allocation, the end-users were also given permission to import another 200,000 tonnes of corn in the second half of 2007.

Philippine corn production in 2007 is projected to register a lower range of 6.5 million to 6.7 million tonnes, down from an earlier forecast of 6.9 million tonnes, due to drought, the agriculture department said in an updated projection.

Corn is a major component in livestock and poultry feeds.