The Philippine Association of Feed Millers Inc. said Thursday it will import 81,000 metric tons of feed wheat for delivery in two shipments this year.
PAFMI said the first shipment of 37,000 MT of Black Sea feed wheat will arrive in September and the second shipment of 44,200 MT of Australian feed wheat is set for delivery by December.
Feed millers have to import feed wheat due to the high price of local corn which traders are quoting at P17 to P17.50 per kilogram in Bulacan province, according to PAFMI president Nicole Sarmiento-Garcia.
Feed millers and local hog and poultry raisers said the local traders’ prices were too high, considering that the ex-farm price of yellow corn was only P12.77 per kilo.
Garcia said local traders had cornered the local corn supply and priced it beyond the cost that would enable feed millers and hog and poultry farmers to produce animal feeds at competitive costs.
Corn comprises 60 percent of the ingredients for the production of animal feeds. The cost of feeds, meanwhile, takes up 80 percent of the cost of meat and chicken production.
PAFMI said it is working with the Department of Agriculture to increase corn production which fell short of the feed milling sector’s requirements. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the country produced 8 million MT of corn in 2019, with 25 percent or 2 million MMT going to the snacks and other and other industrial use for human consumption, such as corn starch.
Garcia said among the programs the DA and PAFMI lined up are contract corn growing which assures the farmers of a market for their produce at a reasonable margin. The DA also linked the feed millers to the local governments of Isabela province and Paracelis in Mountain Province for direct purchase of the corn produce of farmers from these LGUs.
Local feed millers and hog and poultry raisers require nearly 10 million MT of the commodity annually, and are forced to import corn and feed wheat as an alternative material to produce feeds.
Corn, however, remains the preferred ingredient because of its higher carbohydrate content which provides the energy giving component of the feed formula. Soybean meal provides the protein in the feed formulation.
PAFMI is the oldest and biggest association of feed producers in the country. It has 33 member companies that together produce around 70 percent of the country’s animal feed products, including San Miguel Corp., Universal Robina Corp., Philippine Foremost Milling Company, Pilmico Foods Inc., General Milling Corp. and Vitarich Corp.
