September 25, 2007

 

Philippines to finalise corn import plan

 

 

The Philippine government will finalise on Thursday (September 27) the proposed additional corn importation of 70,000 tonnes this year.

 

However, the National Food Authority -- the country's grain importing arm -- says despite the go signal of the Department of Agriculture to import corn, there is still a need to validate the claims of the users versus the standing national inventory.

 

Meanwhile, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Dennis Araullo said there were no takers yet for the 70,000 tonnes of corn that the government was planning to bring in.

 

He said users are already having second thoughts of bringing in the imported grain due to high importation costs, he said.

 

Corn price last week averaged P9.50 (US$0.20) to P9.80 (US$0.21) a kilo in Luzon and P10 to P10.20 a kilo in Mindanao.

 

He said total corn production was expected to hit 4.018 million tonnes in the second half of 2007, up 15.5 percent year-on-year.

 

Yellow corn production is projected to reach 2.493 million tonnes and white corn, 1.525 million tonnes, or a total of 4.018 million tonnes.

 

Araullo said it was not the big players that were asking for additional importation but the small companies that also belong to the Philippine Association of Feed Millers.

 

The current importation volume was previously subjected to a failed tender three months ago. Not one company signified interest to bring in due to escalating prices worldwide.

 

Only 120,000 tonnes of corn entered the country so far since the first tender last April. The importers also exercised the more or less clause in every tender, bringing in another 10,000 tonnes to total 130,000 tonnes corn.

 

Local feed millers have earlier requested a duty-free importation of at least 700,000 tonnes due to perceived corn production shortfall of as much as 1.8 million.

 

But the government recommended the importation of 400,000 tonnes in two separate tranches of 200,000 tonnes each after it foresaw a shortfall of 500,000 tonnes only.

 

US$1 = P45.33 (as of September 25, 2007)