President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is confident that the Philippines would not be experiencing another rice crisis but said that the Philippines would still be open to importation to address possible supply problems.

President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)

Marcos said this after the Federation of Free Farmers expressed concern about a possible deficiency of rice starting in July and that the country may face a rice crisis similar to what happened in 2018.

In an interview, the President said while the government expects the country's rice supply to grow thin, it would not cause a crisis.

"No. I don't [think there will be a crisis]. There is a chance na ninipis talaga yung supply (that the supply will grow thin)," he said.

"So we are watching and waiting to see what the production levels are going to be after the last planting season before the harvest, for the upcoming harvest," he added.

Because of this, Marcos, who also serves as the Department of Agriculture secretary, said that the government is still open to importing rice, especially with the El Niño phenomenon forecast for the third quarter of 2023.

"It is in the dry part where we are waiting for the last planting to be harvested. So yun ang tinitingnan natin (that's what we're looking into)," he said.

"We may have to import. So that's -- we're keeping that option open," he added.

Marcos reiterated that the issue was that the National Food Authority (NFA) has low buffer stock.

Last week, the President said that the NFA needs to buy its buffer stock from the local producer, which could drive the price of rice up, to ensure a sufficient supply of the staple grain.

“Magpa-plano kami kung kailangan mag-import, kung kailangan magpahaba, magparami ng buffer stock sa NFA dahil masyado ng mababa (We're preparing if there's a need to import or increase the NFA's buffer stock because it's too low)," he said.

"Kailangan bumili yung NFA para umabot siya ng at least nine days na buffer stock (The NFA has to buy more to have at least nine days of buffer stock),” he added.

President Marcos has assured the public that the country has an ample rice supply and that his administration is doing its best to control its price.

“Mukha namang maganda ang sitwasyon natin. Hindi tayo magkukulang sa bigas (I think we're in a good situation. We're not going to run out of rice)," he said.

"Tinitingnan natin lahat ng paraan upang ang presyo ay ma-control natin at hindi naman masyadong tataas (We're looking at different ways to control the price and not let it go too high),” he added.

Under the DA 2023 supply outlook, the country's total supply is at 16.98 million metric tons (MMT), sufficient to cover this year's demand estimated at 15.29 MMT.

The NFA is proposing importing 330,000 MT of rice to cover an expected deficit in the country's buffer stock for the relief operations of various agencies in the event of calamities this year.