By Sheldeen Joy Talavera, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINES imported 1.96 million metric tons (MT) of rice in the seven months to July, down 16.37% from a year earlier, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) reported.
The BPI said rice imports in July fell 71.26% year on year to 116,195.75 MT as of July 27. The July total was down 46.37% from a month earlier.
“The decline in imports is due to the increasing international price of rice which makes it somewhat risky and expensive for importers to bring in rice from abroad,” Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, said via Messenger.
Citing Bureau of Customs (BoC) data, he said the price of the supplier countries’ rice of the 5% broken variety had risen $100 per ton in July compared to a year earlier.
This is equivalent to a P7.30 increase in landed cost, including tariffs, he said.
During the seven months, Vietnam remained the Philippines’ top rice supplier, accounting for 1.75 million MT or 89.68% of total imports.
Myanmar supplied 83,460 MT and Thailand 76,287 MT.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita A. Sombilla has urged the private sector to import over a million MT of rice amid concerns over supply following the typhoons that hit the country in July and in preparation for the impact of El Niño.
“We have something like 1.3 million MT in applications (to import) that are pending. We are really encouraging the private sector (to bring in the rice),” she said at a Palace briefing last week.
The Philippine rice inventory is good for 39 days, she said.
“Our current problem is the supply of rice in August and September, during which harvests are going to be very low. We need in effect 60 days of supply, but DA said we had only 39 days of supply as of August 1,” Mr. Montemayor said.
“The only realistic source of the deficit of 21 days’ supply is imports, but the private sector may think twice before importing because of high prices and risks,” he added.
Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio S. Sebastian said, also citing BoC data, that about two million MT of rice had arrived by the end of July, down 11.38% from a year earlier.
“That’s a large volume, but because we are in the lean months and preparing for El Niño, we are encouraging the private sector to bring in more stocks,” he said in a Viber message.
“There has been a downtrend in the arrival of imports because of the increasing price of imported rice, aggravated by the export ban of non-basmati white rice from India,” he added.
Last month, India announced an immediate ban on exports of non-basmati white rice in order to ensure domestic rice availability and lower prices.
According to Department of Agriculture (DA) price monitors, domestic well-milled rice on Friday sold for between P41 and P49, while regular-milled rice fetched between P37 and P44.
Imported well-milled rice sells in Metro Manila for between P44 and P46. The Philippines does not import regular-milled rice.