PHILIPPINE rice imports are inching closer to the 4-million metric ton (MT) mark, already surpassing a previous record achieved in 2022, as a confluence of typhoons and El NiƱo dry spell phenomenon slashed local production.
This year through Nov. 7, the country imported 3.896 million MT of rice, with nearly 80 percent coming from Vietnam, according to the Bureau of Plant Industry.
It already breached the record-high import volume of 3.83 million MT in 2022 and surpassed last yearās figure of 3.6 million MT.
Likewise, the latest figure was just about a million metric ton away from the US Department of Agricultureās rice import projection of 5 million MT this year, but moving closer to the 4.2-million-MT overseas purchase requirement estimated by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In October alone, traders bought 533,298.49 MT of rice from various overseas sources, surging by more than twofold from the 163,217.40 MT in the same period last year.
Vietnam delivered 3.04 million MT of rice, representing 78.1 percent of total, while Thailand shipped 497,465.78 MT.
Pakistan and Myanmar, meanwhile, provided 178,179.48 MT and 143,364.75 MT of rice, respectively. India, which had resumed rice exports recently, exported 22,108.08 MT.
After a slowdown in overseas purchases early this year due to uncertainties over rice tariffs, the volume has risen between July and October.
The DA previously explained that traders were in a wait-and-see mode as they awaited the Supreme Courtās decision on a petition to halt the imposition of reduced import duties on different food items.
However, the high court has not stopped the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 62, which lowered the tariff rates on some agricultural imports such as rice.
However, it asked the government, through the Office of the Solicitor General, to comment on the petition filed by several agricultural groups to nullify the EO.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, palay output totaled 3.33 million MT in the July to September period, down by 12.3 percent from 3.8 million MT a year ago. (Jordeene B. Lagare Ā© Philippine Daily Inquirer)
