Govt okays 200,000 MT of additional corn imports
Othel V. Campos
Manila Standard
The Department of Agriculture has approved the request of the corn industry to import an additional 200,000 metric tons due to a supply shortage.
GMA-Corn Program director Dennis Araullo said the Inter-Agency Committee on Rice and Corn had given the go-signal to import more corn, adding that “it is now up to the National Food Authority to schedule a tender.”
The industry earlier filed a petition to include the 200,000 tons in the tender for the 70,000 tons of corn.
Earlier, the NFA said it might reschedule the failed tender for 70,000 tons of yellow corn by the third week of November to accommodate the additional 200,000 tons of corn.
The NFA aborted the October tender for the 70,000 tons of corn after traders withdrew from the proceedings due to high world prices. The first batch of 70,000 tons is expected to arrive before the end of December. The second shipment of 200,000 tons of corn is expected to be delivered by February 2008.
Initial estimates show that the price of imported corn will reach P15.70 per kilogram. Price of domestic corn is now down to P11.50 a kilo from P13.40 a kilo two weeks ago, said Araullo.
End-users said the industry was in a tight situation and wanted an assurance of enough supply of yellow corn at least until Christmas.
The industry has claimed a shortfall in corn production of around 1.6 million to 1.8 million tons while the government maintained a shortage of only around 500,000 tons.
Based on the reconfigured target of the DA, the government expects corn harvest to reach 6.7 million tons of corn this year based on revised estimates of the agriculture department. Corn production is expected to hit 4.018 million tons in the second half of the year.
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