Feed output to drop 7.7 percent in the Philippines in 2008

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Publish time: 25th June, 2008      Source: www.cnchemicals.com
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June 25, 2008
   
   
Feed output to drop 7.7 percent in the Philippines in 2008
   
   
   

Animal feed output will contract by an estimated 7.7 percent in 2008 as a result of high prices of feed ingredients as well as dampened feed demand by the Philippine livestock and poultry industries, according to a USDA GAIN report dated June 19, 2008.

   

   

Animal feed production this year is projected to decline 7.7 percent to 6.0 million tonnes, from 6.5 million tonnes in 2007 due to weaker demand by the domestic livestock and poultry sectors, the report said, citing key industry contacts.

   

   

The softening of feed demand is attributed to the increasing cost of feed ingredients, particularly, soymeal and coconut oil.

   

   

Soymeal prices last year were reportedly at PHP16 (US$0.35) per kilogramme and have since risen to PHP 25 (US$0.56), a rise of 56 percent.

   

   

Coconut oil prices more than doubled from PHP34 (US$0.76) per kilogramme to PHP 75 (US$1.68).

   

   

Prices of dried distillers grain soluble (DDGS) also doubled to P18 (US$0.40) a kilogramme from PHP9 (US$0.20) per kilogramme last year, according to

   

the same source.

   

   

Production problems in the hog industry in the second half of 2007 further suppressed feed demand: animal diseases last year affected an estimated 20 percent of total backyard hog farms, causing overall output to drop 4.2 percent in the first three months of the year.

   

   

In the face of high prices, The Philippine Association of Feed Millers Inc. (PAFMI), the National Federation of Egg Producers of the Philippines (NFEPP) and the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI), in a joint letter to the Philippine Tariff Commission, have requested for the removal of tariffs on soy, soymeal, tapioca and DDGS imports.

   

   

The Philippines currently has a duty of 1 percent on soy and 3 percent tariff on soymeal and DDGS. Tapioca attracted the highest tariff of 35 percent.

   

   

The PAFMI had reportedly petitioned the Department of Agriculture in January 2008 for the one-year suspension of tariffs on these products. To date, no action reportedly has been taken on the request, the report said.