PH dairy imports seen rising 14% in 2024
The volume of the country’s dairy imports is expected to climb by around 14 percent this year, driven by higher consumer spending and demand for food services.
In a report, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the Philippines was expected to purchase 2.65 million tons (in milk equivalent) in 2024, up from the 2023 estimate of 2.32 million tons.
This contributed to the slight increase in global trade of the product, which is pegged at 84.93 million tons in 2024, a slight uptick of 0.4 percent from last year’s 84.62 million tons.
The FAO attributed its “relatively stable” global dairy trade outlook to the “improved consumer demand and increased food service sales in some countries induced by the post Covid-19 recovery of tourism.”
Based on the report, “the increasing spending on food consumed out of home and the overall increased demand from the hotel, restaurant and institutional (HRI) sector, notably in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Algeria, Mexico, and the United States of America” gave a boost to overall dairy sales worldwide.
“The anticipated expansion in global dairy trade across these countries will likely be significantly offset by import contractions in other importing countries, especially China and Brazil,” it added.
Furthermore, the FAO said the global trade of skim milk powder is seen to drop by 1.8 percent to nearly 2.6 million tonnes this year.
“Despite imports likely growing in several countries, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, Malaysia and Vietnam, their aggregate increase is unlikely to fully compensate for the declines expected in China, Mexico and the Russian Federation, which in total account for about one-quarter of global trade,” the FAO said.
“By contrast, more positive demand prospects are expected in the Philippines and Indonesia, especially after last year’s decreases, induced by higher demand from the food processing and services sectors and relatively lower international SMP prices,” it added.
For years, the Philippines has been heavily dependent on importation as local production can only supply 1 percent of its dairy requirements.
Yet, the country’s self-sufficiency level for milk slightly increased to 1.56 percent as of June this year.
Based on data from the National Dairy Authority, domestic milk output rose by 15 percent to 16,020 metric tons in the first half of this year while dairy imports inched up by 12.9 percent to 1.65 million MT in the January to June period.
