To prepare for the adverse effects of El Niño, the Department of Agriculture (DA) expects the arrival of imported rice by this month through February of 2024.
A total of 500,000 metric tons (MT) of imported rice from India, Taiwan, and the private sector will be included in the rice supply inventory.
Once the import delivery has been completed, the DA said the country will have enough rice supply until the next harvest in March.
Imported grains from the private sector have been arriving, while 76,000 MT of rice is expected from Taiwan and India by this month until January.
DA: Imported rice arriving until February 2024
Dec 27, 2023 08:37 AM
At a glance
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has announced Wednesday, Dec. 27, that imported rice has begun to arrive, with shipments expected to continue until early February next year.
Agriculture Undersecretary and Officer-in-Charge for Operations Roger Navarro said around 76,000 metric tons of rice from Taiwan and India are set to arrive in the country this month and early January.
Navarro also said the private sector is set to receive nearly half a million metric tons of imported rice, which are expected to arrive between December and early February.
“We received reports that around 100,000 tons of imported rice has already arrived in the country. This is part of the 495,000 metric tons committed by import permit holders to [Agriculture] Secretary [Francisco] Tiu Laurel,” Navarro said in a statement.
The government is now intensifying efforts to boost inventory of the national food staple in preparation for the adverse effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon.
Separately, a total 20,000 bags, equivalent to 1,000 metric tons of rice delivered before Christmas Day was the first batch of the 40,000 bags of rice donated by Taiwan, Navarro added.
Within the last week of December and early January, Navarro said 75,000 metric tons of rice will arrive from India.
India has banned the export of non-basmati white rice last July to stabilize domestic supply and prices.
In October, however, India approved the export of over one million metric tons to seven countries, with the Philippines getting over 28 percent of the export allocation.
“The 75,000 metric tons due in the coming weeks is part of the 295,000 metric tons of rice India has allocated to the Philippines,” Navarro said.
With the arrival of imported rice and the volume harvested by farmers in recent months, Navarro said the country will have sufficient supply of the national food staple until the next harvest which starts in March.
National rice consumption is around 36,000 metric tons per day, or around 1.08 million tons per month.
Economic managers, especially the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), are closely-watching the rice supply situation due to its impact on inflation.
The BSP has aggressively raised interest rates since last year to tame inflation, which affects the purchasing power of consumers and undermines economic growth.