LINGAYEN—Following a bumper harvest this year, there is now an oversupply of corn in the province and farmers are losing from the low price offered by private buyers.

But Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has assured local farmers that their produce will be purchased by the government at P10 per kilo, a price higher than the current market rate of between P6 to P7 per kilo.

Yap, who was in Pangasinan Thursday afternoon, said there are 24,000 metric tons of corn to be bought in Pangasinan, and the province of Isabela has an even bigger stock at about 700,000 metric tons up to September this year.

The huge corn stock resulted from lower demand in the first six months of the year as the large importation of feed wheat served as a cheaper source, particularly for local bakers in the production of the local pandesal bread.

However, the importation covered not just wheat flour but also animal wheat, which is an alternative to corn feed.

Yap said the upsurge of the Ebola Reston virus and the A (H1N1) flu that badly affected the hog industry also contributed to the lower demand for animal feed.

The government plans to export the corn purchased from the local farmers to Malaysia and Vietnam that, according to Yap, have standing requirement for two million metric tons and 600,000 metric tons, respectively.

The government stands to lose, as the prevailing price of corn in the international market is P9 to P8.50, minus freight charges and other costs.

“The government will buy corn at P10 per kilo, then export this to other countries,” Yap said, adding that the country cannot allow the corn to stay in local warehouses as this will push prices even further down.

“If the price of corn will go down to P5 per kilo, farmers will no longer plant corn next year,” Yap said. —LM

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