The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Philippines’ overdependence on rice imports would lead to worsening trade gap in agriculture with the expected continued rise in prices of rice imports from Vietnam and Thailand.
Already Vietnamese rice prices rose in 2024, with the average annual quotation of the 5 percent broken variety increasing to over $550 per metric ton (MT), the World Bank reported.
Figures from the World Bank showed that the average price of Vietnam’s 5 percent broken rice grew by 6.45 percent to $557.5 per MT last year from $523.7 per MT in 2023, Business Mirror quoted the WB report.
Thailand rice prices also registered an uptick, with the 5 percent broken rice variety rising by 6.27 percent to $588.4 per MT in 2024 from $553.7 per MT in the previous year.
The average quotation of the 25 percent broken variety also inched up by 4.92 percent to $559.1 per MT last year from $532.9 per MT in 2023.
Vietnam and Thailand are the Philippines’ two largest suppliers of imported rice, with shipments from both countries accounting for over 4 million metric tons (MMT), based on data from the Bureau of Plant Industry.
The Philippines’ rice import arrivals have reached a record-high 4.6 MMT as of December 26, latest government data showed.
WB figures also indicated that the average quotation of corn, another important grain for the Philippines, plunged by nearly a quarter or 24.57 percent to $190.6 per MT in 2024 from $252.7 per MT in the previous year.
In a report last October 2024, the institution said prices of staple crops like corn “trended lower overall” last year, owing to “solid harvests and favorable growing conditions.”
The WB also noted the average prices of coffee varieties like arabica and robusta recorded growths. The Philippines imports 90 percent of its coffee requirements.
Arabica prices jumped by 23.79 percent to $5.62 per kilo last year from $4.54 per kilo in 2023, while the average quotation for the robusta variety surged by 67.68 percent to $4.41 per kilo in 2024 from $2.63 in the previous year.
The average quotation of cocoa also skyrocketed by 123.48 percent to $7.33 per kilo last year from $3.28 per kilo in 2023.
The multilateral institution also noted that weather- and disease-related shocks and trade restrictions caused prices for cocoa, coffee, and rice to reach “historic highs” last year.
It added that this underscored “sources of supply volatility that could prove endemic to an era of climate change and trade fragmentation.”
The average price of coconut oil, the top farm export of the Philippines, surged by 41.30 percent to $1,519 per MT in 2024 from $1,075 per MT in the previous year.
Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that coconut oil exports posted a 68.1-percent growth rate in the January to October 2024 period, reaching $1.68 billion.