WASHINGTON: The country’s dairy imports from January to September 2016 expanded by 50.39 percent to 2.07 million metric tons (MMT) in liquid milk equivalent (LME), from 1.38 MMT-LME recorded in 2015, according to the National Dairy Authority (NDA). The latest NDA data showed that the figure has even surpassed the total volume of milk imports in 2015, or 15.47 percent, higher than the 1.79 MMT-LME recorded that year. It also surpassed the agency’s forecast of 1.85 MMT.
NDA figures also revealed that the country’s milk imports rose by 4.44 percent to $598.81 million (P28.11 billion), from $573.36 million (P25.82 billion) recorded in 2015. Half of the milk and milk products imported by the country were skimmed milk powder, reaching 1.044 MMT-LME, valued at $250.14 million, according to NDA data. The volume was more than half, or 77.57 percent, higher than the 587,960 MT-LME of skimmed milk powder imported in 2015. The bulk of the country’s dairy imports was purchased from New Zealand, which accounted for 31.24 percent, which was followed by the United States (28.33 percent), according to NDA data.
The expansion of the Philippines’s dairy imports during the period could be attributed to growing local demand, particularly the rapid expansion of the food-processing sector and the prevailing low price of dairy in the global market, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report in end-November last year. The Gain report prepared by the US Department of Agriculture office in Manila estimated that the total dairy imports of the country in 2016 would reach 2 MMT-LME.
