While the Philippines is a growing nation, it has not been a focus of Council programs in Southeast Asia due to its low levels of U.S. coarse grain and co-product use in the past. In 2019, using new funding from USDA’s Emerging Markets Program (EMP) and Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program, the Council’s office in Kuala Lumpur sought out to determine what was causing these underperforming import levels and quickly found an answer: a lack of technical knowledge of material handling, storage and feeding.
Based on this awareness, the Council planned an engagement strategy executed in-country and through trade missions to the United States.
The domestic program included a formulation workshop in Davao, RP, attended by a semi-organized producer association of swine farmers, independent feed millers, and technical advisors and focused on using DDGS in swine rations. The second workshop in General Santos targeted the poultry industry.
The U.S.-focused program, funded by the EMP and MAP programs, supported a trade team in August 2019 that brought Filipino and Myanmar importers and feed manufacturers to Kansas and Texas. The group witnessed the full supply chain from farm to export, including the production of sorghum and corn DDGS. The team explored compound feed, aqua, specialty feed/pet food, and human food opportunities. Along the way, the group met with U.S. exporters, linking what they experienced to deliverable trading opportunities.
Following the U.S. mission, one of the participants and the largest feed miller in the Philippines issued a tender for 171,000 MT of U.S. sorghum, the first of its size in recent history, signaling the acceptance of U.S. origin sorghum in the market. To date, this trade has not been completed, though the Council continues to work with the buyer to achieve that goal.
In addition, participating companies confirmed to the Council they had purchased 60 TMT of DDGS, valued at $14 million, after the team travel. Overall, the Philippines ended up importing 65.5 TMT more DDGS than the previous year, a 33 percent increase over 2018.
The Council invested $99,000 of MAP and EMP funds in 2019 in support of this growth, creating a return on investment (ROI) of $141 for every $1 of MAP/EMP funds invested.
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.