RP may ban export of raw materials for fertilizers

The Philippines may either soon ban the export of raw materials used for the production of fertilizers or impose a levy on the export of such materials.

In an interview Saturday evening, Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap noted that local mining companies are exporting their byproducts such as pyrites and sulfur which are used as raw materials in the manufacture of fertilizers.

“We stand by and let them go out as cheap raw materials and come back to us as expensive fertilizers,” Yap pointed out.

With the current rice supply crisis, Yap said, fertilizer is critical to ensure rice production in the coming wet season.

“We have to have a better monitoring and regulation of all exports of raw materials for the production of fertilizers which is necessary in rice production and must, thus, be part of our food security program,” he added.

Yap pointed out that almost all other countries are tightening up on their exports and ensuring their own domestic supply. The Philippines, he said, should take such a stance and address its own food security concerns.

“I am prepared to recommend to President Arroyo to either impose an export levy or totally ban the export of raw materials used to produce food. We cannot allow them to leave the country.”

Yap said that “in the wet season, only a judicious use of fertilizers will ensure rice production.”

He said ensuring the availability of raw materials used in the manufacture of fertilizers would allow the local production of sulfuric acid, potash and other fertilizer components.

Last Saturday evening, Yap held an emergency meeting with rice millers and grains traders to get a better and clearer picture of actual domestic rice production and supply, and thresh out suspicions of hoarding by some millers and traders.

Following the three-hour meeting, rice millers and grains traders all over Luzon pledged to provide the Department of Agriculture with data on their actual palay purchases, their milling capacity, the subsequent losses from milling, the cost of milling, transport and distribution, as well as additional profit margin.

Joji Co, president of the Philippine Confederation of Grains Association (PhilConGrains), such information would give the government a better chance to stabilize the domestic supply and prices of the staple even during the traditional lean months of July to September.

The rice millers and grains traders sought the dialogue with Yap following what they felt was an indiscriminate crackdown on legal rice millers and grains traders who were being portrayed as rice hoarders or profiteers.

Co noted that recent raids of warehouses full of grains have painted a negative image of rice millers and grains traders who were tagged as hoarders.

According to Co, a full warehouses does not necessarily mean that the owner is a hoarder. If anything, it is an indication that there is enough grains being stored and that, in fact, there is no rice shortage he added.

Over 60 officers and members of (PhilConGrains) assured Yap of a stable supply for the rest of the year.

Accompanied by Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco and Robert Estrella of the party-list Abono, the rice millers and grains businessmen also reached an agreement with Yap to work out with the DA and the National Food Authority (NFA) a “pricing mechanism” to keep rice accessible and affordable to ordinary consumers.

As a sign of good faith, Yap said the grains traders committed to inform the DA in a week’s time the total volume of rice stocks currently in their possession which they are to unload in the market during the lean months.