PHL hog raisers want duty-free imported corn

A group of hog raisers urged the Department of Agriculture to issue a special import permit for duty-free corn feed for at least six months so they could keep pork prices at current levels. “If the price of corn is not stabilized soon, this would result in further losses for hog farmers who are still reeling from the devastating effects of natural disasters and pig diseases," said Edwin Chen of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines. Chen explained that the increase in the average price of corn from P12 per kilo earlier this year to P15 per kilo could force some hog farms, particularly backyard raisers, to cease operating. He explained that bringing down the price of corn, which is a basic feed ingredient, will stabilize prices of livestock feeds and prices and consequently maintain the present market prices of pork. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, the Pork Producers Federation did not recommend any corn importation volume. According to Department of Agriculture data, only 60,000 metric tons (MT) of corn has been imported so far this year. The country’s inventory of corn was at 2.79 million MT and 63 percent of that is with households and 37 percent is in commercial warehouses. Corn production during the first semester was 3.309 million MT, 37 percent higher than 2.415 million MT in the first half of 2011. The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics expects corn production in the second half to reach only 3.795 million MT, down 4.2 percent from 3.962 million MT in the same the 2010 period. — AL/ELR/VS, GMA News