MANILA, March 21 ------ The Department of Agriculture (DA) reported lower rice import arrivals amid the local palay harvest in the Philippines. As of March 13, only 640,915 metric tons (MT) of imported rice have arrived since January, according to the DA. This is much lower than 1.19 million MT which arrived for the same period last year.
Only 933 out of the 1,428 approved sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPSIC) have been utilized for the said period. In an interview, DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said this drop shows the adjustment of the market considering recent importation and the local harvest. “Ibig sabihin, mababa. Ibig sabihin ito, malaki talaga yung pumasok na imported na bigas last year. Plus iyong expectation na magiging maganda iyong harvest this year. So makikita natin na nag-a-adjust iyong importation,” he said.
The country logged more than 4.8 million MT rice import arrivals as of Dec. 31, 2024. De Mesa also underscored an international economist’s remarks on the Philippines’ rice importation. “Sabi nga nila doon, nagiging predictive na ngayon iyong pangangailangan for imported rice which can be manifested ngayon dito sa mga import data na pumapasok,” he said.
Earlier, Indian-American agricultural economist and award-winning global food innovator Samarendu Mohanty cited the Philippines’ “aggressive” market reforms as one of the game changers which helped bring down global rice prices, alongside policy changes of India. In particular, he referred to India's lifting of the import ban on non-Basmati white rice and the Philippines’ setting of the maximum suggested retail price for 5 percent broken imported rice, stringent moves against agricultural smuggling and hoarding, and market monitoring.
In terms of the local harvest, de Mesa assured continuous support to farmers through the higher buying price of the National Food Authority (NFA). To date, the NFA buys clean and dry palay at PHP24 per kilogram; and PHP18/kg for fresh and wet palay.
Source: pna.gov.ph
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