The Philippine wheat flour milling industry faces a challenging year with higher raw material prices and new competitors. Philippine Association of Flour Millers Inc. said the wheat commodity futures market had consistently moved up in recent days due to the strong demand from foreign markets. 

The Philippine wheat flour milling industry faces a challenging year with higher raw material prices and new competitors. Philippine Association of Flour Millers Inc. said the wheat commodity futures market had consistently moved up in recent days due to the strong demand from foreign markets. The local flour market expanded 4.6 percent in 2016, fueled by a strong economy and higher purchasing power from the consumer sector.

WHEAT IMPORT INCREASED The Philippines imported 2.6 million metric tons of wheat last year, up 4 percent from 2.5 million MT in 2015. Flour consumption, including imports, reached 84.6 million bags of 25 kilos each, 4.6 percent higher than the previous year’s. The Philippines imported 95.2 percent of its wheat requirements from the United States last year. With strong competition from new flour mills, the Philippines industry expects to import more wheat this year to assurea stable supply of flour for a growing and more sophisticated bakery industry. The imposition of dumping duty on Turkish flour reduced Turkish flour imports from over 6 million tons annually to just 4.6 million tons in 2016.