September 17, 2020

Philippine feed millers agree to buy more local corn

Following backlash for citing high local corn prices as the main reason for its decision to import 81,000 tonnes of feed wheat from the Black Sea and Australia, the Philippine Association of Feed Millers Inc. (PAFMI) has agreed to buy more corn from farmers, Manila Bulletin reported.

PAFMI president Nicole Sarmiento Garcia says members of her organisation, which represents the biggest group of feed millers in the country, is buying more local corn as reports of bumper crop from the ongoing harvest boosted their confidence in the availability of yellow corn, which makes up more than half of the local feed formulation.

Garcia, who also serves as the executive vice president of Vitarich Corporation, adds that the group will also secure contract growing with corn farmers. A memorandum of agreement is now being worked out.

Corn accounts for two-thirds of the ingredients used in feed production, and yellow corn is the preferred energy source in feed formulation.

Two weeks ago, Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (Philmaize) and the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) urged the Philippine government to cut rising wheat imports to stem a further decline in corn prices to the detriment of Filipino farmers.

These lobby groups cited the already depressed price of P12 per kilogram (~US$0.25; P1 = US$0.021).

For her part, Garcia said at that time that feed millers have to import wheat due to the high price of local corn, which traders were quoting at P17 to P17.50/kg in Bulacan. 

Philmaize and PCAFI then claimed that this feed wheat importation by the members of PAFMI is "unfortunately bringing [corn] price further down to P12/kg or below." As of August 1, the country's total corn stocks inventory was recorded at 732,180 tonnes, a rise of 1.1% from the same period level of 724,080 tonnes last year, latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.

In the Philippines, corn farmers typically have two cropping seasons, with harvests in September to October and January to February.