July 25, 2008
Philippine agriculture department backs feed ingredient tariff cut
Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap is expected to recommend to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyothe approval of a petition from the local feedmilling industry to remove import tariffs on feed ingredients that include corn, wheat, soy and soybean meal, an industry executive said Thursday (July 24).
Yap made the commitment during a recent meeting with feedmilling industry officials, said the executive, who requested anonymity
The industry had initially requested early this year the removal of import tariffs on soy and soybean meal, said the executive. The petition is currently pending before the Tariff Commission.
The petition has now been expanded to include wheat and other feed milling ingredients, said the executive, adding that corn, a major crop produced in the country, may also be included on the list.
The petition, if approved, would ease the cost of imported raw material for feedmilling, which has been surging.
Current tariffs on soy and soybean meal are pegged at 1 percent and 3 percent, while those on wheat and corn are at 7 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
The landed cost of soybean meal has risen to around PHP31 a kilogram from PHP14/kg around a year earlier. Soybean meal accounts for around 20 percent of livestock feed in the country.
Due to the high import cost, Philippine imports of soybean meal this year are expected to decline 13 percent to 1.3 million tonnes.
Last year, the Philippines imported 1.5 million tonnes of soybean meal and around 300,000 tonnes of soy.
On the other hand, wheat imports so far this year have amounted to only about 10,000 tonnes versus a total import volume of 400,000 tonnes last year, down significantly from an average import volume of 1.5 million tonnes from 2001 to 2006, as feed millers are just relying on locally produced corn.
The landed cost of imported wheat translates to around PHP22/kg. against prevailing domestic corn prices of PHP14/kg. Corn and wheat are used as substitutes for each other as an animal feed ingredient.
