RICE imports hit 2.9 million metric tons (MT) in the first week of September, 20 percent higher than the 2.4 million MT in 2023, according to data from the Department of Agriculture (DA). In its latest report, the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said from September 1 to 5 alone, rice shipments from abroad reached 38,068 MT, while 361,724 MT was recorded a month earlier.
Data also showed the average monthly arrival of rice stood at 400,000 MT in the earlier half of 2024.
In terms of market prices, the DA said it was seeing a downward trend in some public markets across Metro Manila, such as Guadalupe in Makati, as well as in Farmers and Nepa Q Mart in Quezon City, where well-milled rice retailed at P45 per kilo.
The agency earlier noted the public might be able to buy the staple at lower prices as imported rice with lower tariffs comes in. Last June, the National Economic and Development Authority slashed duties on imported rice to 15 percent from the previous 35 percent to “drive down” retail prices in the country. The latest rice import volume corresponds to 3,957 sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances issued by the BPI to accredited traders.
The report also showed Vietnam remained the top rice exporter to the Philippines during the period, shipping over 2.26 million MT of the grain or around 78 percent of the total imports.
Next is Thailand, with 383,230 MT, followed by Pakistan, with 156,244 MT, and Myanmar, with 67,315 MT.
The remaining volumes came from India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Italy and Spain. In 2023, inbound shipments of the staple totaled 3.6 million MT, down 5.9 percent from the record-high 3.82 million MT logged in 2022. For this year, the DA projects rice imports not exceeding last year’s import volume.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the Philippines could import less rice this year due to slower purchases in the global market. In its monthly report, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service projected the Philippines’ rice import volume to reach 4.6 million MT for 2024, smaller than its previous projection of 4.7 million MT. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier said that the country’s rice imports were unlikely to reach the US projection. He said that the previous 4.7-million MT estimate of the USDA might be a bit high and could be “the worst-case scenario.”
Nonetheless, the Philippines still ranks as the world’s top rice importer. Vietnam followed with an estimated 2.9 million MT and the European Union with 2.2 million MT.