Phl seeks investors for soybean venture

MANILA, Philippines - The government is hoping to attract Chinese investors for a joint venture to produce soybeans in Mindanao.

Interviewed on the sidelines of the 2nd National Convergence Agri-Investment Forum in Makati yesterday, Marriz Agbon, focal person of the NCI and president of the Philippine Agricultural

Development Commercial Corp. (PADCC), said there are current talks with some Chinese investors for a possible investment in a soybean production venture in Mindanao.

Areas initially identified as suitable for soybean production are Davao and South Cotabato, Agbon said.

The Philippines wants to develop its own soybean industry even as a delegation from the US Soybean Association recently visited the country to promote US soybeans.

This year the country is importing more than 1.6 million metric tons of soybean meal mostly from the United States due to an increase in demand for livestock and poultry products. Soybean meal is an alternative material used by feed millers in producing animal feeds.

The Philippines imported 1.5 million metric tons of soybean meal in 2009, with US producers accounting for 35.

Soybean meal provides the protein component in animal feeds, normally comprising 20-25 percent of the feed formula.

Corn, which comprises 50 to 60 of the formula, provides the carbohydrate component of the feed. Dr. Rene Rafael Espino, head of the national high value commercial crops program under the Department of Agriculture (DA), said the government is currently crafting a “road map” to prop up soybean production.

Espino noted that the country’s production of soybean meal is “negligible” at less than 1,000 metric tons (MT) annually.

He said less than 1,000 hectares of farmlands in the Philippines are devoted to soybean production despite its importance to the livestock and poultry sector.