Ex-DA chief: Rice imports down 75% in January
Former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor revealed over the weekend a 75 percent drop in the arrival of imported rice this month after the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) reported that at least 56,090 metric tons of the outsourced grains were already delivered to the country as of Jan. 11.
“In the past, we were importing between 200,000 and 250,000 tons in January. So imports have dropped by 75 percent due to high international prices and despite the fact that importers undervalue their shipments by an average of 22 percent to reduce tariff charges,” Montemayor said in a message to The STAR.
Based on the agency’s data, the bulk of the rice imports, or 34 percent, came from Vietnam with a total of 36,911 MT. Other sources of the grain imports for the first 11 days of the month include Thailand with 16,351 MT, Myanmar with 1,040 MT, Pakistan with 898 MT and Japan with 892 MT.
Montemayor also questioned the failure of the BPI to report on the supposed arrival of 295,000 MT imported rice from India.
“The BPI report makes no mention of rice from India. Does this mean none of the 195,000 tons expected from India have arrived?” Montemayor asked.
India has allowed the Philippines to import 295,000 MT of rice. Although it banned the export of non-basmati white rice in July and October last year, it approved the export of over one million metric tons to seven countries, including the Philippines.
The DA placed the country’s daily rice consumption at 36,000 metric tons per day, or 1.08 million tons monthly.
Watchdog group Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said the retail prices of rice in Bicol is already as high as P75 per kilo amid the continued spike in the cost of the staple.
The retail prices for rice per kilo, based on DA monitoring, are at P53 for the local regular milled, P55 for local well-milled, P60 for local premium and P68 for local special.
As for imported varieties, the well-milled rice is at P55 per kilo, P62 for premium and P68 for special.