"Rebuilding the U.S. Soymeal Market in the Philippines"-Page 2 of 2

Farm Managers

Minton Quan, Owner & General Manager of King’s Swine Farm, said, "Soybean meal has been our main protein source. We have other protein sources, like fish meal and copra, but nothing beats soybean meal."

Quan, who also manages a poultry farm, said that he prefers U.S. soybean meal, but sometimes, due to availability or price, he is forced to use soymeal from other sources, "but for breeders and layers and small piglets, we have to use U.S. soybean meal to eliminate some of the variables arising from raising pigs," Quan said.

Quan said his preference for U.S. soymeal stems from the overall quality of the product and the availability of the amino acids in the meal. Soybean meal contributes much to his swine, Quan said, because it is the one ingredient that helps keep his business efficient and competitive. Quan, like many other knowledgeable buyers, appreciates that the true value of U.S. soymeal has to be calculated on both price and performance.

Minton Quan, Owner & General Manager of King’s Swine Farm. (ASA photo by Bob Callanan)

After 15 years operating the Gazel Poultry Farm, Farm Owner Rey Celestial said he had, "a bad experience with bad soybean sources," last year when he unknowingly took delivery of feed that included contaminated soymeal.

"Instead of harvesting around 40,000 birds, I was only able to harvest 20,000 birds," Celestial said.

Celestial, who is part of the Sustamina Agri-Industrial Corporation farm system, gets his feed from the integrator. He was told that they buy soymeal from the U.S. and Argentina. Samples of the contaminated feed were tested in a laboratory, where the toxicity was confirmed. Celestial was convinced the feed did not come from the U.S.

"It has been tested already that soybeans that come from the U.S. are a lot better than soybeans that come from Argentina, that is for a fact," Celestial said.

Sustamina has about 250 farms in their system with an average broiler capacity of 10,000 birds per farm.

A few of the 50,000 broilers being fed rations that include U.S. soybean meal at the Gazel Poultry Farm. (ASA photo by Bob Callanan)

Arnold Anorico, a Contract Growing Manager for Sustamina, said, "Last year...from May, June, July and August, we experienced bad performance since the soya that was used...was not good."

Although the importer told Sustamina that the soymeal had come from the U.S., Anorico suspects that the meal did not come from the U.S., but was in fact what he called a "pass-thru product" from another source.

Since U.S. soymeal typically sells for a premium price, importers have an incentive to declare a U.S. origin, even when it is not. It is also less likely that U.S. soymeal was available during the period May to August, when supplies of the previous year’s U.S. crop are running low. Anorico estimated the poor performance of that soymeal reduced efficiency by more than 30 percent.

"We were getting an FCR (feed conversion ratio) of 2.4 to 2.5, from the usual 1.8 or 1.7," Anorico said. "The usual aging [calls for us to] harvest our birds at 35 days, but because of that soya, we harvest our birds at 42 to 45 days. It had a very big impact on our cost of production."

North of the city of Dumaguete on the island of Negros Oriental, ASA visited with Peter Uy Tingni, President of Resources Production Technology, an aquaculture farm where ASA has been conducting feeding trial for the past three years. Uy is producing milkfish, a saltwater species, in cages utilizing a soy-based floating feed developed by the ASA.

"We have to harvest every day," Uy said. "We don’t build big cages, but small cages, in which the market we could service [is] the market locally.

A farm worker on the floating fish cages at Resources Production Technology on the island of Negros Oriental in the Philippines. (ASA photo by Bob Callanan)

Before Uy started working with ASA, he was using sinker feeds, but now, based on ASA’s advice, he has converted to floating feeds, which allows his farm workers to observe how the feed is being consumed by the fish.

"The amount of time being grown with the solution being given by the American Soybean Association has really helped a little, but the biggest factor is that the FCR goes down to around 2, while the sinking feed’s FCR goes up to 3.5," Uy said. "It makes us confident that we can produce milkfish at a lower cost than when we are using the sinking feeds."

Uy said he is very grateful for all the help ASA has provided to his business and is anxious for the ASA to help introduce additional saltwater species of fish to farm in the Philippines.

Local Representatives

Maria Marte, President of MCM Enterprises, AGP’s Philippines Marketing Representative, said, "We undertook a lot of promotional and marketing efforts since 1999, to convince the buyers to continue or try using U.S. soymeal in their formulations. AGP and American Soybean Association did a lot of coordination in conducting technical and promotional conferences that allowed us to network with the different buyers."

At the offices of MCM Enterprises are (L to R) Ruby Exconde, Trading Operations Manager; Robert Bruenn, Maritime 24 PTE Ltd., AGP’s Shipping Representative; Maria Marte, President of MCM Enterprises, AGP’s Philippines Marketing Representative; Gonzalo Marte, President and Managing Director Altmar Enterprises; Jamie Ruth Perona, Trading Assistant; and  Rogelio Salonga, President and General Manager RCS Shipping Agencies, Inc.   MCM Enterprises is AGP's Philippines Marketing Representative. (ASA photo by Bob Callanan)

Marte said these activities helped AGP develop and cement relationships with the buyers, which led to AGP selling a total of nine vessels of soymeal to the Philippines last year.

ASA Philippines Country Manager Ted Cortes, who has worked for ASA since 1996, said he has seen quite a lot of things happen in the Philippines in the past 10 years.

"We have done technical and trade-related activities, we’ve serviced the needs of swine, poultry and aqua farms, reinforcing our claim that U.S. soybean meal is the best protein source for the fish and the livestock," Cortes said. "On the trade side, we have helped people learn how to buy better by introducing them to the futures market and appropriate strategies in risk management."

Some soymeal purchasers seem willing to make compromises between the quality, the price and the delivery of their feed ingredients. Fortunately, many U.S. soymeal customers in the Philippines have come to realize the true value of the product is determined by its performance. And now, thanks to AGP’s Terminal 2 at the Port of Grays Harbor, they can also depend on reliable deliveries in half the time.

At Asian Terminals Incorporated in Mariveles, Batan, are (L to R) ATI Assistant Vice President-Terminal Division Ruel Lagtapon, ATI Vice President-Domestic Terminal Division Sean Perez, and ASA Philippines Marketing Manager Ted Cortes. (ASA photo by Bob Callanan)

Sponsored by AGP. Visit AGP at http://www.agp.com/
Photographs and video copyright © 2006 The American Soybean Association by Bob Callanan
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