More feed wheat, soybean meal shipments seen

Feed wheat and soybean meal imports this year may surpass last year’s shipments due to a possible increase in local corn prices, industry estimates show Friday.

An industry source said feed wheat and soybean meal imports, which are substitutes for yellow corn, may reach 1 million metric tons and 1.5 million MT, respectively, in 2011 as domestic corn production in 2010 was not enough to meet the local demand.

Data showed that feed wheat imports had reached 515,000 MT in terms of forward shipments from January to June 2011, or more than half of the volume bought from abroad last year.

Imports in 2010 reached 962,446 MT, down 17 percent from 1.127 million MT in 2009. Sources attributed the decline in volume to a big carry-over inventory from 2009.

About 83,000 MT of feed wheat imports arrived in January this year while March shipments amounted to 203,000 MT. April shipments amount to 63,000 MT; May, 103,000 MT; and 63,000 MT in June. All imports will come from Australia.

“The flood in Australia damaged all the wheat harvests. Damaged milling wheat that are still useful can still pass for feed wheat. Australia may now have a big surplus of feed wheat,” he said.

The Philippines bought feed wheat solely from the European Union in 2009 and from several sources like India, Brazil, EU and Russia in 2010.

The price of imported wheat may further go up due to a doubling of the world market price to $9.20 per bushel. Global wheat production fell 5 percent to 645 million MT due to unexpected calamities in wheat-producing countries while consumption rose by another 2 percent for the third consecutive year, or 12 million MT to 665 million MT for cropyear 2009-2010.

Meanwhile, soybean meal imports are expected to surpass last year’s imports of 1.549 million MT.

Shipments until March 2011 showed that about 522,894 MT of soybean meal were already contracted by feed millers.

(Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideBusiness.htm?f=2011/february/26/business3.isx&d=2011/february/26)