Stunted palay output, lower tariffs, and anti-smuggling efforts catapulted the country’s rice imports to an all-time high of nearly 4.7 million metric tons (MMT) in 2024, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) showed that rice shipments reached 4.68 MMT last year, which was nearly 30 percent higher than the 3.6 MMT it imported in 2023.
“Local production was low. The import data responds to domestic output,” Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa told reporters in a press briefing on Wednesday.
“If we compare it to 2023, when we produced more rice, there were fewer imports.”
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the agency expects palay production to settle at 19.3 MMT in 2024, lower than its initial forecast of 19.41 MMT.
The projected figure is also lower than the record 20.06 MMT the country produced in 2023.
De Mesa said lower rice tariffs had also contributed to the surge in imports last year.
Rice arrivals recorded an uptick following the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 62, which slashed rice tariffs to 15 percent from 35 percent until 2028. It took effect in July 2024.
De Mesa claimed that the lower tariffs removed the incentive to smuggle the staple.
“Because of lower tariffs and because government has been vigilant against smuggling, the smugglers were discouraged from bringing in contraband from other countries.”
Last September, President Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act (RA) 12022 or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which he said will help the government crackdown against the cartels behind price and supply manipulation for agricultural products.
Of the volume that arrived in the country, BPI data indicated that over 3.56 MMT came from Vietnam, which remained the country’s largest supplier. Thailand trailed behind, accounting for 598,157.80 metric tons (MT).
The country also imported the food staple from other countries, such as Pakistan (283,517.48 MT), Myanmar (201,202.75 MT) and India (22,619.10 MT).
Figures from the agency also showed that the BPI approved and issued 9,792 sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSICs) for the purchase of 9.37 MMT of imported rice.
Last December, the DA said the country’s unmilled rice production in the fourth quarter of 2024 will be higher than the previous year’s level despite the onslaught of typhoons that struck the country in October and November.
Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) survey of standing crops, paddy rice output in the fourth quarter of 2024 could reach 7.44 million metric tons (MMT) due to an expansion in harvest area.
PSA said its data indicated that palay production from October to December may increase by 2.8 percent to 7.44 MMT, from last year’s actual output of 7.24 MMT.
