MANILA: Philippine rice imports next year could increase by more than half to 1.7 million metric tons (MMT), from the 1.1 MMT projected for 2017, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) had earlier said that the scrapping of the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice would boost demand for lower-priced imports. The latest projection of the USDA-FAS for 2018, however, is lower by 100,000 metric tons (MT). The FAS attributed this to the change in the National Food Authority’s (NFA) importation policy. “Philippine imports are trimmed 100,000 MT to 1.7 MMT based on limitations set by the government on import arrival times,” the USDA-FAS report read. The USDA-FAS also slashed its forecast for rice exports to the Philippines this year by 500,000 MT to 1.1 MMT. However, its latest forecast was still higher by 37.5 percent than last year’s estimate of 800,000 MT.
“Philippine imports are cut 500,000 MT to 1.1 MMT based on government announcements that the minimum access volume [MAV] imports will be allowed beginning in late-December,” the report read. Despite this, total milled rice traded globally this year would remain at 44.557 MMT, according to the USDA-FAS. “Global trade is nearly unchanged this month, as larger imports by Bangladesh and Nigeria nearly offset reductions for the Philippines and Ghana,” it said.
In a separate report, the USDA-FAS projected that Philippine milled-rice production next year would reach 11.20 MMT, 4.19 percent lower than the estimated 11.69-MMT output this year. The USDA-FAS attributed the decrease to the expected contraction in area planted with rice next year. Data from the USDA-FAS showed that the country’s rice areas next year may shrink to 4.5 million hectares, from 4.72 million hectares this year. Meanwhile, yield per hectare is projected to maintain at 3.95 MT per hectare. For this year, the NFA Council (NFAC) revised the rules and regulations governing rice imports under the MAV scheme, staggering the arrival of shipments into two periods. The NFAC is the highest policy-making body of the NFA. Under Memorandum Circular AO-2017-08-002, rice imported by the private sector will arrive from December 20 until February 28, 2018, and from June 1, 2018 until August 31, 2018. Rice traders and farmers’ groups can import 293,100 MT of rice from Thailand and Vietnam. They can also import 50,000 MT of rice from China, India and Pakistan; 15,000 MT from Australia; and 4,000 MT from El Salvador. Based on the list uploaded on the NFA’s web site, as of September 25, 297 private firms and cooperatives are seeking to import 2.2 MMT of rice under the MAV scheme.