December 29, 2006

 

Philippine feed millers expect 10% rise in 2007 corn imports

 

 

The Philippine feed milling industry is expecting a 10 percent increase in corn imports in 2007 to 232,000 metric tonnes (MT) from 216,000 MT in 2006 with the resurgence of poultry exports to Japan, reports the Manila Times daily.  

 

An industry executive said the 10 percent hike was a conservative estimate and could rise to as much as 20 percent.

 

Half of the importation would go to commercial poultry raisers now that they are back in the exportation scheme.

Philippine Association of Broilers Inc president Rita Imelda Palabyab said the association would submit a request shortly to the Department of Agriculture for a tariff-free importation of corn for feeds purposes.

 

Corn production is expected to reach 1.74 million MT in the first quarter of 2007, up 13.6 percent increase from 1.53 million MT year-on-year.

 

The P103.25-billion (US$2.10 billion) feed milling industry produced 8.6 million MT of feeds, or about 172 million bags of 50 kilogrammes each. Corn comprises half of total feed production while the rest are substitutes such as wheat and soybean meal.

 

Earlier, the local feed milling sector expected less grain imports next year as prices of corn worldwide continued to rise.

 

Much of the corn production in the US and Brazil are also now focused on ethanol, with many farms expanding the acreage on corn and less on feed wheat and soybean meal.

 

Leading grains trader Peter Mishak, director for international trade and business development of AGP in the Chicago Board of Trade, said the upward price trend is due to farmers' willingness to pay a premium for corn for bio-fuel production used in manufacturing animal feeds.

 

This year's corn price was the highest in 10 years from less than a dollar to a bushel to almost US$4 a bushel.

 

Mishak noted that the price of Philippine corn was now competitive compared to imported corn as domestic corn is priced at US$0.19 to US$0.20 per kilogramme compared to landed cost of imported corn at US$0.30 per kilogramme.