The unrelenting growth of the Philippine feed milling industry and higher meat and poultry consumption may prompt the US to export more soybeans to the country, the Philippine Association of Feed Millers (PAFMill) said Wednesday.
In a statement, PAFMill said that US-based AG Processors is expanding its export facilities in the Port of Grays Harbor in Aberdeen, Washington to meet the growing requirements of soybeans in Pacific Rim countries including the Philippines.
AG Processors is one of the biggest farmer cooperatives in the US and the Philippines’ leading soybean supplier.
In 2009, the Philippines imported 1.5 million metric tons (MT) of soybean meal from the US.
This year, industry insiders see total imports of soybean meal totaling 1.6 million MT on the back of higher feed demand from the pork and poultry sector.
Soybean meal is the product remaining after extracting most of the oil from whole soybeans.
Meanwhile, the Philippine feed milling industry produced 7.5 million tons of feeds in 2009, or 7 percent higher compared with the 7 million tons of feeds produced in 2008.
Government data showed the hog raising industry accounted for 65 percent of the country’s feed requirements, followed by the poultry sector (25 percent), and the fishery and other animal sectors (10 percent).
AG Processors will lead a 15-man delegation of American soybean farmers and traders to the Philippines this week to meet local feed millers, hog raisers, and poultry operators.
