Philippine feed production in downward trend

"Production was down for lack of demand. Pig production not only failed to pickup but in fact was depressed due to a slack in the production of piglets," an official of the Philippine Association of Feed Millers Inc.”, said.

 

Also, the official said aquaculture production has decreased by 5%, dragging the demand for animal feeds.

 

Earlier, the sector projected the production to contract 10%, but weak demand for feeds forced most feed millers to further cut production in order minimize losses.

 

The poultry business performed well and the feedmillers consider this sector as their saving grace, otherwise many would have gone out of business.

 

Feed millers said the industry remains persistent not to bring in additional corn despite a projected shortfall in production due to low demand for animal feeds.

 

Corn importation in 2010 is expected reach not more than 80,000 MT, a lot lower than the 345,000 MT imported in 2009.

 

"Should there be a surge in demand [for feeds] towards year-end, we might import additional feed wheat but not corn. We can book November for December arrival," the source said.

 

In 2009, feed millers shipped around 1.1 million MT of feed wheat into the country. For 2010, the contracted volume was about 1 million MT due for arrival until October.

 

The private sector projected that feed wheat importation for the year may reach 1.5 million MT.