December 13, 2010

Philippine dairy industry needs more than US$50 million yearly until 2016

The Philippine dairy industry will need PHP2.41 billion or US$54.92 million annually until 2016 to increase the country's milk self-sufficiency and displace about US$1.06-billion worth of milk imports.

The National Dairy Authority (NDA) said their recently drafted dairy road map to 2016 aims to raise domestic milk contribution to 46 percent from 26 percent of the total milk supply and to triple production from 15 million liters to 45 million liters.

NDA administrator Grace Cenas said that by the end of the road map's implementation, there will be 22,000 full-time jobs created and the asset build-up would total P4.14 billion dairy animals.

The spending needed to uplift the domestic dairy industry will significantly close the gap between local production and imported milk, Cenas said.

Total dairy production for the first three quarters of 2010 increased to 1.19 million tonnes from 1.04 million tonnes computed for the same period last year.

Of the country's dairy supply, powdered milk accounted for the biggest share at 81 percent, followed by cheeses, whey, and curds (9 percent), butter (8 percent), and liquid milk (2 percent).

Government data shows that the Philippines is one of the world's biggest importers of milk, purchasing 52 percent of its total milk imports from New Zealand.

Milk imports comprise about 76 percent of the total domestic supply, Cenas said.

Meanwhile, in the first six months of the year, exports volume reached 16.33 million kilograms, up 33 percent compared with last year's level.

Whole milk powder, which accounted for 90 percent of exports, recorded 31 percent increase. Other exported dairy products were evaporated milk, ice cream mixes and whey.

The Philippines exports dairy products to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh.