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THE
government has heeded the call of local flour millers
for help amid the rising cost of wheat in the world
market, and asked Beijing to allocate wheat for the
Philippines.
Trade
Secretary Peter Favila said he has sent an official
communication to his Chinese counterpart requesting for
an allocation of wheat products for shipment to the
Philippines.
This
came on the heels of an appeal by the Philippine
Association of Flour Millers (Pafmil) for the Department
of Trade and Industry to initiate discussions with the
Chinese government for an allocation of around 200,000
metric tons (MT) of milling wheat, equivalent to 10
percent of the country’s total annual wheat consumption.
Pafmil
said that without this allocation from Beijing, the
Philippines will not be able to import wheat from
China
because the Chinese government controls the outflow of
its grains and grain-based commodities.
The
flour millers promised that the savings they will get
from the importation of Chinese milling wheat will be
translated to benefits for the consumers, as they will
make available their products to the local bakery
industry at concessionary prices. Prices of bread
products had been feared to shoot up soon amid the
steady soaring of wheat prices in the world market,
among other external factors.
The
flour millers, however, will probably be getting more
than they wished for, as Favila said he did not only ask
for the allocation of milling wheat, but wheat flour, as
well.
“We are
securing both from China,” Favila told reporters over
the weekend.
The
flour millers had opposed the importation of wheat flour
from China “as this would further reduce capacity
utilization and unfairly compete with local producers in
the market.”
Chinese
flour has taken nearly 7 percent of the market, they
said.
Favila
said he has yet to get a reply from Beijing on his dual
request.
He said
he was supposed to meet with the ambassador of China
here last week, but that it was canceled by sudden
changes in their schedules.
Favila
noted there is available wheat from the US but these are
at prices higher than those of
China.
For the
bakery industry, Favila said there is already an
initiative for the use of coco flour—to make the iconic
breakfast staple pan de sal—which can be made readily
available locally, instead of wheat flour.
The
flour millers said animal raisers are also hurt by the
rising cost of wheat as it is a major component of
animal feeds that take up around 70 percent of their
production cost.
Last
week, it was reported that prices of spring wheat in the
Minneapolis Grain Exchange settled at $24 per bushel,
three times the cost of spring wheat in September last
year and the highest on record.
At the
Chicago Board of Trade soft wheat for May breached the
$12 per bushel level for the first time. Spring wheat is
the raw material for the production of flour for pan de
sal and loaf breads, among others. Soft wheat is for
pastry and cake flours.
At the
Pacific Northwest loadport, spring wheat was quoted at $
902 PMT fob for March shipment. Freight rates are also
up, at around $70 per metric ton from PNW to
Manila
for a 40,000 handymax bulk ship. |
