The Indian government has awarded to the Philippines its “highest allocation of rice export,” its embassy in Manila said on Wednesday, Oct. 18.

(Photo from Indian Ambassador Shambhu Kumaran's X page)

In an email to the Manila Bulletin, Indian Embassy’s Press, Information and Culture (PIC) Section shared a soon-to-be-published notification on the Gazette of India about the country’s rice exports.

“It is with immense pleasure to inform you that the highest allocation of rice export was made to the Philippines,” the embassay said.

“Request made at the leadership level and the positive decision reflects the growing confidence in the bilateral relationship,” it added.

The notification showed that the Philippines has been allocated 295,000 metric tons (MTs) of non-Basmati white rice from India.

The country topped other export destinations, such as Nepal (95,000 MTs), Cameroon (190,000 MTs), Cote d’ Ivore (1,42,000.00 MTs), Republic of Guinea (142,000 MTs), Malaysia (170,000.00 MTs), and Seychelles (800 MTs).

The Philippines, primarily an agricultural country, has suffered tremendously from the rising cost of its staple grain.

This led President Marcos to issue Executive Order (EO) No. 39 on Sept. 5, putting a price ceiling of P41 per kilogram for regular milled rice and P45 per kilogram for well-milled rice across the country, in answer to its rising cost in the market.

This has since been lifted.

In July, Marcos revealed plans to ask India for help in the rice supply.

Then, India had just put a ban on exporting non-basmati white rice because retail prices climbed by three percent recently due to damage to crops brought by monsoon rains.

But by the end of August, India allowed traders to ship out their non-basmati white rice cargoes sitting at ports because of the surprise ban.

India is the world’s largest exporter of rice, accounting for more than 40 percent of world rice exports.