Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago warned consignees of rice that their imports will be declared as abandoned if they fail to release them on October 1 this year.
It was Santiago who exposed the presence of 888 container vans of imported rice last week as he expressed alarm that the failure to release of the rice would result in artificial rice shortage and would eventually result in increase in the price of the product in the market.
The 88 container vans are estimated to contain around 20 million kilos of rice.
While some of the consignees immediately pulled out their imports, Santiago disclosed that there are still 530 container vans loaded with rice ay the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).
“Since Friday, around 300 containers have already been pulled out. There are still 530 containers that ready for release,” said Santiago.
“What we would like to announce for these overstaying containers is that if they fail to pull them out on October 1, we would inform the Department of Agriculture and we will endorse these to the Bureau of Customs to declare these containers as abandoned and ready for disposal,” he added.
The average dwell time for containers at PPA-managed ports stands at 5.4 days, which is the lowest in history and just 0.4 days beyond the free storage period of five days.
This suggests that most cargoes are processed and released within the free storage period but in the case of the containers loaded with imported rice, Santiago said they are taking longer time to be withdrawn by their consignees.
While other cargoes are generally released within the allotted free storage period, some rice container shipments from some consignees remain at the ports for over 20 days despite having been cleared for release by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Santiago said he already consulted with other industry players and he was informed that such strategy is being implemented by traders to earn more.
“Historically, the consignees appear to be waiting for the increase in the price in the market before they would release their imports,” said Santiago.
“And based on the trend in the past years, there were times that the pull out of rice imports from the port storage was slow. Then there would be rice price increase in the market and then there would be sudden big-time pull out of these containers,” he added.
The Department of Agriculture earlier lauded the PPA for its response and action in addressing the overstaying container vans loaded with rice at the MICT.
Lowering the price of the rice per kilo is one of the campaign promises of President Marcos.