PH, Vietnam eye 5-year rice trade program

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Vietnam is looking forward to establishing a five-year rice trade cooperation with the Philippine government to ensure food security in the Philippines.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said this in his bilateral meeting with President Marcos on the sidelines of the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits here on Thursday morning, Sept. 7.

In his remarks, Chinh said that the two countries are close to finalizing a rice trade cooperation framework that would ensure rice imports from Vietnam.

“Our two countries will conclude an inter-government agreement on rice trade so that our rice export to the Philippines will ensure food security in the Philippines,” he said.

“We look forward to having a stable framework of cooperation on rice trade for a long period of at least five years,” he added.

In response, President Marcos said he was hoping that negotiations on the proposed rice trade would prove fruitful.

“You have identified the main issue for our countries which is food supply. In Asia, food supply is very much determined by rice, and the prices,” he said.

“We are anxious and we hope to continue very fruitful arrangements,” he added.

The President also said that he recognized the market’s current volatility and the need for adjustment by every country.

“However, the suggestion of a longer-term arrangement is an important one because just having that as an assurance will stabilize the situation, not only for the Philippines but for all of us in the region,” Marcos told Chinh.

“But we will work continuously. I am very confident that we will once again come to a consensus and agree," he added.

The Philippines signed the MOA on the Supply of Vietnamese Rice to the Philippines in May 2008, with Vietnam selling to the Philippines up to 1.5 million metric tons of Vietnamese rice from 2008 to 2010. However, the passage of the Rice Tariffication Act (RA 110203) in March 2019 liberalized commercial rice importation by the Philippines by replacing quantitative restrictions with a general tariff.

The law also effectively barred government-to-government import arrangements under the National Food Authority (NFA).

Despite those developments, the Philippines’ bilateral rice trade with Vietnam has remained healthy and unimpeded with Vietnam supplying around 90 percent of the Philippines’ rice imports.

Vietnam exported 4.84 million metric tons of rice worth $2.58 billion from January to July 2023.

For the first five months of this year, the Philippines imported 1.5 million tons of rice from Vietnam, worth $772.4 million, which is equivalent to 42.3 percent of Vietnam’s total rice exports for the said period.

Boosted ties

The Vietnamese Prime Minister highlighted how important it was for both countries to continue the exchange of high-level visits.

Chinh said he was hoping that Vietnam and the Philippines would increase cooperation in agriculture and aquaculture, as well as in the digital and green economy.

President Marcos agreed, saying the relationships between ASEAN member states have “grown importance.”

“It is to our advantage that we have taken not just one but more steps in strengthening the partnership, the alliance, the relationship not only in the bilateral context of ASEAN but also arrangement between our two countries,” he said.