Corn supplies in the Philippines are expected to remain firm in 2019 despite a decline in cultivation area and yields in 2018.

The total area seeded to corn in 2019 looks set to increase slightly to 2.64 million hectares compared to  2.59 million hectares in 2018. Also, the harvest in 2019 may reach 8.3 million tonnes vs 7.98 million tonnes.

USDA estimates that wheat imports in 2019 will reach 5.8 million tonnes, a decline from 5.98 million tonnes in 2018.

The country will import 1.5 million tonnes of rice in market year 2018-2019, up 300,000 tonnes year-on-year, in a bid to tame inflation which shot up to 6.4% in August 2018. Average inflation from January to August 2018 was 4.8%, which is above the target range of 2-4%.

Source USDA