Feedwheat imports on the upswing

MANILA, Philippines–UNABLE to gain government backing for tariff-free corn imports, feed millers instead brought in more feedwheat to produce animal feed.

Local corn farmers won against import lobbies in October as the Department of Agriculture refused to allow industry groups to import yellow corn without tariff.

The Philippines thus imported only 91,040 metric tons of yellow corn in 2011, down 5.5 percent from 96,310 metric tons in 2010, according to industry data.

Thailand was the biggest corn supplier in 2010, providing about 83 percent of imports against 17 percent from Argentina.

However, in 2011, Thailand contributed only 41 percent of total corn imports and Indonesia took up the slack with 36 percent. The rest came from the United States (14 percent) and India (9 percent).

In 2012, about 36,000 metric tons of corn is expected to arrive in January.

Tariff duty for Thailand and Indonesia is 5 percent and 35 percent under minimum access volume for outside Asean countries like the US, Argentina, India and Brazil.

Feedwheat imports reached 1.071 million metric tons in 2011, all from Australia. That is 7 percent higher than the 962,000 metric tons in 2010. Last year, feedwheat imports came from Brazil (34 percent), Ukraine (32 percent), India (23 percent) and Russia (7 percent).

Tariff duty for feedwheat is presently zero.

There are no data yet for soybean meal imports in 2011. The Philippines imported about 1.55 million metric tons in 2010, only slightly higher than the 1.54 million metric tons imported in 2009. Tariff duty is 1 percent.

In October, Philippine feed millers as well as pork producers sought permits to import a total of 100,000 metric tons of yellow corn without the 35 percent import tariff. This, as typhoons and flooding in Southeast

Asia hampered deliveries from Thailand and hiked prices of Philippine stocks.

Yellow corn is the main ingredient in livestock feeds.

The Pork Producers Federation of the Phils. Inc., through president Edwin Chen, asked the Department of Agriculture to allow tariff-free corn importation for six months.

Philippine Association of Feed Millers, Inc., through president Norman Ramos, also wrote to Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala that the 100,000 tons would make up only 13 percent of requirements for local

livestock feed from January to March 2012. The volume would not drive down corn prices, Ramos said. Feedwheat can replace yellow corn in hog feeds but not in poultry feeds.

Philippine corn farmers, however, said local corn prices remained relatively stable and bringing in imports would only further discourage farmers from planting the grain, resulting in a “vicious cycle,” the Philippine Maize Federation (Philmaize) president Roger V. Navarro said.

Navarro estimated that corn farmers will harvest about 7.4 million metric tons in 2011 from 7.2 million metric tons in 2010.

In 2012, he said, corn farmers are rallying behind the Department of Agriculture’s aim to produce 7.8 million metric tons of corn.