NFA exporting corn at low prices to stabilize supply

The government plans to export corn at a loss to prevent domestic prices from falling further, an official of the National Food Authority said yesterday.

“We can export between P8 and P9 a kilo just to relieve the market of the burden,” the official told reporters yesterday.

He said the National Food Authority would buy corn from farmers at P10 a kilo and export the crop at least P1 less than the purchase price.

He said the lower export price aimed to stabilize local corn prices, now hovering at P7 a kilo.

“It is a sacrifice we have to make,” the official said.

The government earlier said it would ship out some 150,000 metric tons of corn to Vietnam and was looking at Korea and Japan as possible markets for the local crop.

The official said an artificial glut in domestic corn supply had occurred due to the entry of some 1.1 million MT of imported feed wheat. The imports displaced part of the local corn supply.

“The total supply of corn and corn substitute is way in excess of what the livestock and poultry sector need at this time. [The] supply surplus could have been created by imports,” he said.

NFA is storing at least 300,000 MT corn as buffer stock for the coming year due to the threats of the El Niño weather phenomena. It also plans to export excess corn supply as soon as possible and scout for more foreign markets.

“Because if you do it late, the surplus will already strain our warehouse. The earlier you do it, the earlier you lift the strain on our logistics,” he said.

The government plans to export as much as 15,000 MT for the first shipment. –Othel V. Campos, Manila Standard Today