By Luzi Ann Javier
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The Philippines, Southeast Asia’s second-biggest consumer of corn, will import as many as 75,000 metric tons by May to boost domestic supplies amid a shortage.
The imports will be used as “buffer stock” to “respond to possible corn supply tightness in the first semester of 2009 and moderate price volatility,” Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said in a memorandum obtained by Bloomberg News today.
Delays in harvests this year, and lower-than-expected output in 2008 curbed domestic supplies and doubled corn prices this month. Yap said in the memorandum that he plans to keep a stockpile of 100,000 tons of corn as “a permanent measure” to offset future shortages.
Corn prices climbed to 25 pesos (53 cents) per kilogram, from 12 pesos in December, National Federation of Hog Raisers Inc. Chairman Rene Elaria said Jan. 16.
The National Food Authority, the state-run agency that trades grains, will separately import 200,000 tons of corn that will be resold to some small feed millers and meat producers, Yap said in a statement issued yesterday.
To contact the reporter for this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net
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