October 11, 2012
 

Philippine corn output seen  higher by 11.9% by end-2012

Good prices coupled with favourable weather condition will prop up the country's corn output and enable farmers to increase production by 11.9 percent on year to 7.8 million tonnes in 2012, the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (Philmaize) said.

Philmaize President Roger Navarro told reporters harvest in major corn-producing provinces such as Isabela will be robust. He added that the government should allow the farmers to export while prices in the international market remain high as harvest will be good this year.

Philmaize's projection is even higher than the 7.46 million tonnes output expected by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) for the year. Corn production reached 6.97 million tonnes in 2011.

As of October 10, he said the National Food Authority (NFA) council has yet to tell them whether it has approved the plan of corn farmers to export surplus corn. Earlier, Navarro said the country will have a surplus of around 500,000 tonnes.

Despite this, Navarro said corn prices at trading posts have remained favourable and have not gone down to below PHP13 per kilogram.

Navarro said during the latest NFA council meeting, it was bared by the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) on rice and corn that the country's inventory of grains is at 1.2 million tonnes. These grains include cassava, corn, and feedwheat.

He said these include imported feedwheat which is used as a substitute for yellow corn in manufacturing animal feeds.

The government is liberalizing imports but it is restricting exports and these have effects on domestic prices, says Navarro, adding that the government should hopefully take a second look at its policies.

Due to the drought which hit the US, corn prices shot up to unprecedented levels. This development encouraged local corn farmers to make a pitch for exporting their produce so they can take advantage of good prices.

In August, Philmaize said corn farmers are keen on exporting as much as 400,000 tonnes of yellow corn.

The group said Taiwan and South Korea are willing to buy from the Philippines due to their huge requirement for yellow corn.

The government, however, countered that farmers cannot ship out their produce until the NFA council certifies that there is a surplus of corn. The NFA cited Presidential Decree no. 4 as basis for deferring any decision on the request of corn farmers.

Earlier, the NFA said a technical working group has been formed to study their request.