Pets, poultry to fuel rise in corn imports

The growing demand for pet food and sustained poultry expansion would drive the country's corn import in the current market year to rise by seven percent year-on-year to over 1.6 million metric tons (MT).

- By JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

The US Department of Agriculture - Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila (USDA-FAS) projected that corn imports from July to June next year would reach 1.63 million MT, about 109,000 MT higher than the 1.521 million MT recorded in the previous market year.

The international agency attributed the increase to growth in both poultry feed and pet food industries. It noted that corn imports in the previous market year of 2023-2024 expanded by more than half to 1.521 million MT from 907,000 in market year 2022-2023.