PHILIPPINE rice imports amounted to 4.35 million metric tons (MMT) as of early December, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said.
According to the BPI, rice imports as of Dec. 5 had surpassed the 3.61 MMT total reported for the 2023 full year.
Rice shipments in November amounted to 434,655 MT, more than double the 250,895 MT reported a year earlier.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is projecting that rice imports of 4.5 MMT for 2024 following the lowering of tariffs on rice imports, with demand for foreign rice spurred by an estimated decline in domestic production.
In June, the government lowered tariffs on imported rice to 15% from 35% until 2028 through Executive Order No. 62. It was billed as an inflation-containment measure.
In its Grain: World Markets and Trade Report, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the Philippines is projected to import about 5.4 million MMT next year citing the prospect of “smaller crops.”
The USDA’s new forecast represents a 300,000 MT upgrade from the estimate of 5.1 MMT issued in November. The projection for next year is slightly higher compared to the 5.3 MMT forecast for 2024.
The DA said palay (unmilled rice) production will likely decline 3.63% to a four-year low of 19.3 MMT in 2024, after typhoons damaged the standing rice crop.
The BPI reported that Vietnam remained the top supplier of rice as of early December, accounting for 76.8% of all imports in the year to date, or 3.34 MMT.
Thailand supplied 556,248 MT during the period, or 12.9% of the total, followed by Pakistan with 224,629 MT, or 5.2%.
It added that Myanmar and India shipped 197,952 MT and 22,572 MT of rice, respectively.
The BPI issued 109 sanitary and phytosanitary import certificates, with approved applicants seeking to import 66,988 MT, in early December. Total permits issued in the year to date numbered 9,451 with applicants seeking to ship in 9.08 MMT. — Adrian H. Halili