Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas – The Philippine Star 

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s rice tariff collection in the first quarter rose by 13 percent on an annual basis to P4.8 billion, driven by higher import volume and weaker exchange rate.

Preliminary Bureau of Customs (BOC) data showed that rice tariff collection in the first three months was almost P560 million higher than the P4.25 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Volume wise, rice imports expanded by a third year-on-year to almost 1.36 million metric tons from 1.02 million MT, based on BOC data.

The increase in import volume and weaker peso buoyed the rise in tariff collection amid lower global rice prices. The average price of imported rice in the first quarter fell by 16 percent to $402.8 per MT from $483.6 per MT, based on BOC figures.

Tariffs collected from imported rice have been vital for the development of the local rice industry as they are earmarked by the government for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).

The expanded and extended RCEF has a guaranteed P30 billion annual funding that will be implemented until 2031.

Aside from free machinery and seeds, farmers are now set to receive additional support through soil improvement, pest management, solar-powered irrigation under the RCEF.

The Department of Agriculture has been managing rice import arrivals to stabilize farmgate prices of palay. Last year, the DA halted rice importation from September to December, before resuming importation this year.

However, the DA has been in talks with local rice importers to manage the volume of foreign supplies that will be allowed to enter the domestic market to avoid impacting local farmgate prices.

Rice import arrivals have been averaging 450,000 MT from January to March, based on BOC data.

The DA earlier disclosed that it is considering again to limit monthly rice import volume from June to August to balance supply and farmgate price concerns.

“The objective is to prevent a price collapse while ensuring adequate domestic supply,” the DA said while noting that it targets a farmgate price of P22 per kilo for the September to November harvest period.

Published Date: May 5, 2026