By Janine Alexis Miguel

RICE imports as of late October have already exceeded the 2023 total, data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) showed.

Inbound shipments of the staple totaled 3.67 million metric tons (MT) as of Oct. 24, the DA’s Bureau Plant Industry reported, surpassing the 3.61 million MT imported for the whole of last year.

Rice imports as of October last year were just 2.84 million MT.

Nearly a fifth of this year’s current total was imported recently: 399,291 MT in September and 380,541 MT as of October 24.

“The country is the world’s biggest rice importer and rice imports could increase further due to cheaper rice imports amid the reduction in import tariff rates,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said when asked to comment.

Executive Order 62, signed last June, slashed tariffs on imported rice to 15 percent from 35 percent to drive down retail prices and help temper inflation.

Ricafort added that cheaper world rice prices — at their lowest since February 2022 — would also make imported rice cheaper.

“Preparations for La Niña risk later this year would also lead to some preemptive stockpiling of rice supplies that could be augmented by increased rice imports,” he continued.

Vietnam remained the Philippines’ biggest source of rice, accounting for over 2.9 million MT or some 79 percent of the current total.

Next are Thailand with 457,673 MT; Pakistan, 162,369 MT; and Myanmar, 114,766 MT.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has projected that the Philippines’ rice import volume could reach 4.7 MMT this year, although Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has said that this is unlikely.The USDA said the country would remain the world’s top rice importer this year. Vietnam is expected to follow with an estimated import volume of 2.9 million MT.

Published Date: October 31, 2024