The Philippines imported dairy products worth P80.08 billion in 2024, up by 4.9 percent from the 2023 imports worth P76.3 billion, the National Dairy Authority (NDA) reported on Tuesday.
By volume, dairy imports last year rose 20.7 percent 3.5 billion liters from 2.91 billion liters in 2023, the latest NDA data showed.
Initial assessments by the NDA traced the increase in dairy imports in 2024 to the country’s growing population, but the agency said it would still have to determine other factors as well.
“The rise in demand (in 2024) may be linked to the increasing population. However, we have some reservations about this, as the imports from 2022 to 2023 actually decreased despite the population growth,” the NDA said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Regarding the import costs, we have reservations if we can attribute the increased import volume to lower import costs, given that the tariffs have remained unchanged and considering that the value of CIF/FOB (cost, insurance and freight/free on board) increased from 2023 to 2024 for the same set of countries from which we imported,” the NDA added.
More countries supplied dairy products to the Philippines in 2024, it pointed out, but did not elaborate why such a supply-side situation did not result in lower or competitive prices.
Based on other data from the NDA, 1.39 billion liters of skim milk powder represented 39.7 percent or the biggest bulk of the Philippines’ total dairy imports in 2024. Whey followed with 736.99 million liters, or 21 percent of the total import volume, while liquid or powder buttermilk came in next, with 413.84 million liters or 11.8 percent of the total imports.
Other dairy products imported by the country in 2024, were liquid ready-to-drink milk, whole milk powder, evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream, butter/butterfat, cheese, curd, dairy spreads, fermented milk/sour milk, ice cream, ice drops, yogurt and yogurt drinks, among others.
Earlier, Malaya Business Insight reported on the NDA’s projections that the Philippines could hit a 2-percent milk self-sufficiency in 2025, with an ultimate goal to achieve 5 percent by 2028.
NDA Administrator Marcus Antonius Andaya had said such projections could be met with the establishment of stock farms and the importation of dairy cows.
Andaya added that as of the end of 2023, local milk demand had reached 1.9 billion liters but local production was only 28 million liters.
NDA recently pegged the country’s average yield at 10 liters of milk per head of cow per day.
Given the low production figures, the Philippines “will continue to import dairy products” as demand continues to overpower local production, said Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI).
The dairy sector is also “being given the lowest priority in the livestock and poultry sector,” according to Fausto.
“The main target of NDA for improvement is in the ready-to-drink milk through the milk feeding program being implemented by the DepEd (Department of Education) under the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Filipino Act,” he explained.
Under such law, the government is mandated to provide a supplemental feeding program for a school-based feeding program for public school children in kindergarten up to grade 6 levels. It also includes a milk feeding program, wherein fresh milk is served in the fortified meals and cycle menu.
However, Fausto said that “the hope of dairy farmers to have a ready market for their fresh milk produce under the program is dampened with the DepEd giving less importance to the milk component.”
The PCAFI head said such a program, if implemented better, would encourage farmers to increase the volume of local milk production, thereby increasing local supply and providing steady livelihood to dairy farmers, while improving the nutrition and overall health of pupils nationwide.
