October 7, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos’ growing demand for pasta and other-wheat based products is expected to drive the country’s wheat imports in the current market year to a record level of 7.15 million metric tons (MT), an international agency projected.
The United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) in Manila forecasts the country’s wheat imports in market year 2024-2025 to expand by more than three percent to 7.15 million MT from 6.915 million MT in the previous market year.
A market year begins in July and ends in June of the following year, according to the international agency.
“The primary drivers for the growth in imports for MY 2024/25 are increased demand for bread and pasta from households and food establishments (for milling wheat), and reduction in the local production of feed corn due to fall armyworm infestation on major corn-producing regions in the country (for feed wheat),” the USDA-FAS Manila said in a recent report.
The international agency noted that consumption of wheat-based products in the Philippines have been growing, supported by favorable global prices of wheat translating to more affordable items.
The USDA-FAS Manila projected that the country’s milling wheat imports would grow to 3.6 million MT, about 3.6 percent higher than the 3.3 million MT recorded the previous market year.
“Industry contacts report that there is no observable shift in consumer diet from rice to bread or pasta, but they are forecasting a growth in demand for wheat-based food products,” it said.
“Economic growth, increase in population, a rebound in tourism, and moderating inflation levels are the key drivers of the increase in demand for wheat-based products,” it added.
Furthermore, the local animal feed sector continues to rely on imported feed wheat to fill in the gap in its raw material supply brought about by lackluster domestic corn output.
The country’s feed wheat imports would increase slightly to 3.5 million MT from 3.44 million MT, according to the agency’s projections.
“The projected increase in (feed wheat) imports from MY 2023/24 to MY 2024/25 is driven by disruptions in the production of local feed corn,” USDA-FAS Manila said.
“Demand for feed wheat, meanwhile, is driven by levels of local corn production and favorable global prices,” it added.
The report indicated that the US was the Philippines’ top wheat supplier, cornering a 39 percent market share followed by Australia (37 percent) and Brazil (16 percent).
The report pointed out that Brazil has emerged as a growing exporter of feed wheat to Southeast Asia due to its domestic push for self-sufficiency.
“The decline in Ukraine wheat exports to the world, likewise, opened more markets for Brazil wheat exports, including in the Philippines,” USDA-FAS said while noting that Brazil’s wheat exports to the Philippines in two previous market years were insignificant at 50 MT (2022-2023) and one MT (2021-2022).
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