Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has raised the country's minimum access volume for imported corn to 500,000 metric tons from 220,000 metric tons, adding 280,000 metric tons of import room to steady feed supplies for livestock, poultry and feed milling.
Marcos signed Executive Order 129 on Monday, and the order was made public Tuesday, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency. The Department of Agriculture projects a yellow corn deficit of about 1.42 million metric tons from March to December, the department said in a statement reported by BusinessWorld.
The minimum access volume is a quota of imports that pay a lower tariff. Imports within the quota carry a 5% tariff, while shipments beyond it face 15%, the department said in an earlier release on the proposal.
The order cites higher fertilizer, fuel and freight costs and weather risks, including possible El Niño effects, as factors that could deepen the shortfall. "Corn is the principal energy component in livestock and poultry feeds, and inadequate domestic corn supply may increase feed costs and, consequently, the production costs and retail prices of pork and poultry products, thereby contributing to inflationary pressures on food commodities," the order reads.
The department said easing feed prices could limit production cost increases for hog raisers and, to a lesser extent, poultry producers.
"Ensuring a sufficient supply of low-priced corn is essential to supporting animal feed production, keeping production costs of meat affordable and protecting the country's food security," Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in the statement.
The increase activates what the government calls the MAV Plus Mechanism, recommended by the interagency MAV Management Committee. The order describes the added volume as a calibrated, temporary and time-bound measure for qualified feed millers and manufacturers, as well as farmers and farmers' cooperatives. The department has said the extra imports should supplement local production during the pre-harvest period without displacing local corn.
The committee must issue implementing guidelines within 30 days that provide for equitable and transparent allocation of the added 280,000 metric tons. The order takes effect upon publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.
