As global corn demand rises, local farmers ask DA to ease export restrictions

Citing an imbalance between the rules for corn imports and those for exports, corn farmers are asking the Department of Agriculture to ease export restrictions and allow investments to develop the sector. “Corn importation is liberalized but the exportation of this same commodity is restricted. There are those of us, local farmers, who want make hay while there’s sun. We want to export corn while world prices are still high, but we are not allowed [to export] just because of an antiquated law that indirectly prohibits the export of corn,” Philippine Maize Federation president Roger Navarro said in an interview Thursday. He said that the National Food Authority has invoked President Decree No.4, signed on September 26, 1972. The decree created the National Grains Authority which later became the National Food Authority. Amendments to this law include the regulation of the rice and corn industry and the prohibition of the exportation of the country’s two staples unless there is guaranteed surplus in output. In a second letter addressed to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, the group reiterated its request to export corn, saying that the increase in corn planting that would result would also redound to the stabilization of supply and price of this commodity. “We shall be able to uplift the dignity of our corn farmers, and at the same time accelerate corn post harvest investment nationwide as this will guarantee the quality of corn that the market so badly need both for local and export,” the Federation said in a letter dated August 31, 2012. The group added that while it understands the NFA's invoking PD No. 4, it also believesthat the policy should have been set aside when the Philippines became a member of the World Trade Organization and the ASEAN Free Trade Area. “What we cannot understand is [the] DA allows importation of corn and corn substitute, but denies and restricts local corn for export. In this situation it would not be hard to detect if the policy is fair or unfair for the local corn farmers,” said the federation. The group is seeking government approval to export as much as 400,000 metric tons (MT)of yellow corn following a surge in the world market price due to the drought that hit the United States. Recent reports showed that the drought has pushed corn prices to $8.20 per bushel. World price of corn is now at $340 per metric ton. “We want to utilize this opportunity to increase the income of farmers. We already have buyers in Korea. We can also go to Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan," said the federation. Based on government forecast, corn production in 2012 may reach 7.46 million MT, seven percent higher than last year's output of 6.97 million MT. — BM, GMA News