Marcos opens grain terminal in Batangas

March 14, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos yesterday led the inauguration of a P278.3-million grain terminal in Batangas City, which will consolidate the supply of corn and lower the prices of poultry and livestock products in the Southern Tagalog Region.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the grain terminal is funded by a P100-million loan from the World Bank with cash and in-kind counterpart funding of P178.3 million from the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project and the Sorosoro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC).

He added that the grain terminal enhances the existing feed mill of SIDC by integrating a silo operation with a capacity of 12,000 metric tons.

“This new grain terminal is set to become a central hub for the yellow corn used predominantly in the production of animal feed. With the ability to scale up national corn production, the project is poised to temper rising input costs, benefiting hog and poultry farmers as well as corn producers. In total, it is estimated that 567 yellow corn farmers, hog raisers and poultry farmers will directly benefit from the project,” Tiu Laurel said.

“This new grain terminal and trading hub will not only put more money in our farmers’ pockets but will lower the cost of producing poultry and hogs, helping ensure a stable supply and affordable food prices for many Filipino consumers,” he added.

SIDC anticipates that the facility will meet the growing demand for yellow corn in animal feed production.

Batangas is a major producer of swine, poultry and eggs and stands to benefit greatly from the terminal’s capacity to streamline corn distribution, further strengthening its role in the nation’s agricultural economy.

“This project marks a significant step toward improving food security and agricultural sustainability in the country, demonstrating the importance of public-private partnerships in driving growth within the agricultural sector,” Tiu Laurel said.

Tobacco trade starts

The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) announced the start of trading operations of Virginia tobacco for the cropping season 2024-2025, following the opening of buying stations in the Ilocos Region and Abra.

Administrator Belinda Sanchez said NTA already checked the trading equipment and facilities of tobacco trading outlets in the Ilocos region before the end of February.

NTA field workers sealed all the weighing scales of buying stations and accredited field canvassers upon calibration, using the weighing test certified by the Department of Science and Technology.

The trading warehouses of the Universal Leaf Philippines Inc. in Agoo, La Union; Candon City and Cabugao, both in Ilocos Sur; Currimao, Ilocos Norte; and Bangued, Abra and the warehouse of Trans Manila Incorporated in San Juan, Ilocos Sur are now open to accommodate all the flue-cured Virginia tobacco leaves produced by the farmers, NTA said.

At the start of the 2025 tobacco trading operations, trading centers purchased a kilo of prime class flue-cured tobacco at P107 while field canvassers in the first district of Ilocos Sur bought the same class of cured tobacco for as high as P125 per kilo.

Sanchez is expecting another golden season for tobacco farmers this year, as the current tobacco buying prices are much higher than the approved tobacco floor prices during the tripartite conference in October 2023.

The approved tobacco floor prices for flue-cured Virginia tobacco are P97 for class AA, P96 for class A, P95 for class B, P93 for class C, P85 for class D, P84 for class E, P75 for class F1, P72 for class F2 and P61 for class R.

For Burley tobacco, the prices are P81 for class A, P78 for class B, P69 for class C, P58 for class D, P57 for class E, P49 for class F and P39 for class R.

Lastly, for native tobacco the prices are P81 for High Grade, P70 for Medium 1, P60 for Medium 2, P50 for Low 1 and P38 for Low 2.

NTA said that tobacco farmers, who planted as early as the last week of November 2024, have started delivering their flue-cured Virginia tobacco to the trading centers. –  Artemio Dumlao