By: Jordeene B. Lagare.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s rice imports are expected to decline this year but remain large enough to drive down the selling prices of local rice farmers despite the continuing shortfall in domestic production.

“It might level off but still [reach] over 4 million [metric] tons, mainly due to the drop in palay prices and the widening gap between requirements and local production,” Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) national manager Raul Montemayor said in a Viber message on Tuesday.

In 2024, the Philippines imported about 4.8 million metric tons (MT) of rice.

“Local rice needs to compete with imported rice and for this to happen, palay prices should be adjusted,” he added.

So far, the country imported 504,727 MT of rice from January to Feb. 27, down 34.5 percent from the same period a year ago, based on the data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).

The volume of rice imported so far represented about 12 percent of the FFF’s estimate for 2025.

Vietnam remains the country’s leading source of imported rice, cornering the lion’s share of 73.5 percent. Pakistan has displaced Thailand as the second-largest rice exporter to the country with 12 percent, while latter’s share stood at 10 percent.

Other rice suppliers during the reference period were Myanmar, India and South Korea.

The volume of imported rice that entered the archipelago peaked at 4.8 million MT in 2024, surpassing the previous record high of 3.8 million MT achieved in 2022, figures from the BPI showed.

Montemayor said the prices of imported rice have decreased by 30 percent compared with the same period last year.

Softer prices, lower output

“[Prices of] imports were higher early last year due to speculations over El Nino and India export bans but leveled off until the tariff was reduced to 15 percent in July 2024,” he added.

On the contrary, local palay output dropped by 4.8 percent to 19.09 million MT in 2024 from a record of 20.06 million MT a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Palay production increased between 2019 and 2021. However, the overall volume declined in 2022.

Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. president Danilo Fausto said the government should “control and manage” rice importation while the harvest season is ongoing to prevent depressing the farm-gate price of palay, which would severely affect farmers’ income.

“I expect that we will have a good harvest this year because of the absence of El Niño. BPI should manage the issuance of SPSIC (sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance),” he said.

Fausto also said the BPI could come up with some innovations to govern the issuance of SPSICs “without appearing to impose import controls.”

The Department of Agriculture or its regulatory bureaus issue import clearances to ensure that imported agricultural products meet standards to protect human, animal or plant health and avoid the spread of pests or diseases.

Published Date: March 5, 2025