Is rice adequacy due to rice imports or production?

By Rose de la Cruz

The optimism of the Department of Agriculture about adequate or no shortage of rice this year is commendable and something worth pondering. Where is the optimism of abundant rice coming from– is it the massive imports or from domestic production?

Imagine, DA Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel V. de Mesa saying that the expected 400,000 to 600,000 tons of losses every year from typhoons “are within the limit we expect and we will be able to harvest 20 million MT for this year?

In a briefing of Palace reporters, de Mesa said the damage to rice production from the initial typhoons in 2024 reached 420,000 MT, which is still within target.

But he must not speak like he was certain there would be no more cyclones visiting us for the next three months until December. Our country was just too lucky that three typhoons exited our country before they could devastate all our crops. And for that we must be thanking God for sparing our country from such onslaughts. 

Another thing we have to be thankful about is that global rice prices have not gone berserk like in the past several months when panic over global supply had caused prices to rise skyhigh in the world market. Even India is not restricting supplies to the global market now. Also, declining oil prices have been slowing down inflation worldwide.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed rice production during the first quarter of 2024 reaching 5.24 MMT and 4.69 MMT for the next quarter.

As of August, PSA said the country’s total rice stocks inventory was at 1.87 MMT.

The existing rice supply is expected to be augmented by more importation at reduced tariff of 15 percent by virtue of President Marcos’ Executive Order No. 62, which took effect in July. 

Last week, DA announced that the price of imported rice would drop once the concerned consignees are able to pull out 23,000 metric tons of “overstaying” rice in 888 containers at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) by two to 275 days.  

De Mesa said the shipments represent just 0.75 percent of the over 3 million MMT of imported rice, certified for importation by the Bureau of Plant Industry this year.

The volume of rice imports would rise before the end of the year, to supposedly bring down the price of imported rice.   

“Historically speaking, most of the imported rice will arrive every fourth quarter,” De Mesa said.  

The DA price monitoring report said the average weekly price for imported well-milled rice was at P49.33 per kilo, while imported regular milled rice was P43.84 per kilo from September 16 to 21, 2024.

This was lower compared to price of imported rice during the third weeks of August (well-milled, P53.04; regular milled, P47.08), July (well-milled, P52.60; regular milled, P49.09); and June (well-milled, P53.43; regular milled, P49.78), Business Mirror added.

Meanwhile, Philippine Ports Authority General Manager Jay R. Santiago said they are looking at the possibility that some consignees with overstaying rice shipments can be held liable for hoarding. 

They are determining if consignees are taking advantage of the storage fee in the MICT, which is cheaper compared to private warehouses, to store their rice imports as they wait for its price to rise. 

“That is why they are waiting for the chance for the price [of imported rice] to rise with its demand, before they release their rice,” Santiago said. 

He said they will leave it to the concerned government agencies such as the DA and the Bureau of Customs to go after the erring consignees for violating the Customs’ Modernization Tariff Act for failing to remove their shipments in the ports within the required 30-day period. 

Of the 888 containers, 300 was already pulled out from the ports over the weekend. 

“We look forward in the upcoming days and until the end of the month for the said overstaying containers with rice to be further reduced,” Santiago said.