OF course I take it too seriously. But it is disappointing to see the lack of knowledge by people who should know better about the world beyond the 7,000+ Philippine islands. The 21st century has given us not only a rush to judgment, but also the chance to swallow distorted and incomplete information not seen on a scale since 16th-century witches were burned at the stake.
Last week sales of blood pressure meds probably increased substantially with the news that the Philippines imports 93 percent of its salt for human consumption. I will not dispute that data from the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (Pcafi) although no source was given to verify that “we are importing at least 550,000 metric tons from China and Australia.”
However, the World Health Organization says Filipinos individually consume about 200,000 metric tons of salt per year. Pcafi did say, “We are now requiring salt as fertilizer for our coconut trees,” so that is probably the difference in the numbers.
It would probably be nice to be self-sufficient in salt among other things. But we are not going broke by importing salt as the Philippines purchased $15 million worth of salt last year. We also imported $25 million worth of pepper, $20 million worth of crayons and pencils, $34 million worth of foreign made ice cream, and $26 million worth of copra. For comparison, in 2021 Malaysia imported $40 million and Taiwan bought $110 million worth of salt from the global market.
In 2020, the Netherlands was the leading exporter of salt, with exports valued at approximately $271.3 million, with Germany, Canada, Spain, and the US rounding out the top five exporters of $1.5 billion of salt.
At some point, our thought-leaders, expert pundits, and certainly government officials should take responsibility for making the public better informed. Did you happen to see this headline last week? “Government hikes fuel prices by 30 percent, cuts energy subsidies.”
Of course not, because the story is “Fuel prices increased by about 30 percent across Indonesia after the government reduced some costly subsidies that have kept inflation in Southeast Asia’s largest economy among the world’s lowest.” No news source in the Philippines reported that information.
Here is why that story is important to you. The last Philippine inflation report showed prices increasing at 6.4 percent, while Indonesia posted a 4.7 percent increase. Indonesia has lower inflation because the government has been paying for much of the increase in oil prices, and that will now change.
I do not like comparisons because there is no such thing as “apples to apples.” It is always “oranges to bananas.” However, we must—it’s even critical that we know what is going on outside our 36,000 kilometers of shoreline, which incidentally is ideally suited for salt harvesting.
Not one local news source for the following story. “Tens of thousands of Czechs protested in Prague against the government to demand more state help with rising energy bills, the largest manifestation of public discontent over the worst cost-of-living crisis in three decades.”
And another critical story: ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steelmaker with nearly 20 smelters from South Africa and Brazil to Canada and Germany. They are closing two European plants and shutting down production at another. “The exorbitant rise in energy prices is having a massive impact on the competitiveness of steel production. In addition,—and this is the critical thought—“weak market demand and a negative economic outlook with energy hyperinflation risks sending Europe into a deep recession.”
Germany needs $20 billion in Russian gas to power the value-added production of $2 trillion worth of manufactured goods, which is now being cut off. That is called “operating leverage.” It is like you need P20 worth of raw materials to generate P2,000 of revenue when the finished goods are sold.
Of course, we are isolated and somewhat protected from the chaos in the West except for peso weakness. But it is probably a good thing to know when the zombie apocalypse starts—according to Zombieland—in a fast-food restaurant in a little US town.
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.