Philippine feed millers imported 80,000 metric tons of corn from Thailand to fill in the shortage caused by the El Ni?o weather phenomenon, the Philippine Feed Millers Association Inc. said Monday. The corn shipment arrived between the months of January to May at a price of $250 per ton. Feed millers have also contracted 844,000 tons of feed wheat, a substitute for corn. A total of 500,000 tons of it have already arrived in the Philippines. The remaining volume is expected to arrive in the country in or before October. Local corn production declined 16.8 percent to 1.8 million tons in the first quarter because of the El Ni?o, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS). The BAS expects that, with the dry spell expected to last until June, corn production will decline further. For the period of January to September, BAS forecasts corn production to fall 17 percent to 4.6 million tons. The Department of Agriculture said the dry spell has damaged around 500,000 tons of corn. Feed millers said they aren't keen on importing more corn this year despite the BAS bearish forecast. This is because demand for animal feeds slackened due to diseases that ravaged hog farms as well as low demand among consumers for pork and poultry products.
