PHILIPPINE rice imports were cut by almost half in the first quarter of 2025, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
As of March 13, total rice imports reached 641,000 metric tons, which was much lower than the 1.2 million metric tons imported in the same period last year.
“Ibig sabihin nito, malaki talaga ‘yung pumasok na imported na bigas last year, plus expectations na magiging maganda ang harvest this year,” Asec. Arnel De Mesa said.
(This just means that the volume of imports last year was extraordinarily high, and we didn’t have to import much this year due to an expected good harvest.)
The El Niño phenomenon impacted local rice production in 2024, which triggered more imports due to fears that ricefields would dry up due to drought. De Mesa also said the agency’s aggressive actions to temper the price of rice and even India’s actions on rice exports contributed to lower level of rice imports.
“Makikita natin na nag-a-adjust ang importation,” De Mesa said. (We can see that importers are adjusting.)
“Nagiging predictive na ngayon ‘yung pangangailangan for importation, which can be manifested ngayon dito,” he added. (We can now predict the need for rice imports, and it is manifested in this data.)
The Philippines ranked as the world’s top importer of rice in 2023 and 2024.
The DA said it will also look into the ‘special’ rice being sold in Valenzuela City. This rice variety allegedly had the brand name ‘president’, and was being sold at P62 per kilo, way above the P49/kilo maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for imported rice.
De Mesa said special types and varieties of rice are not covered by the MSRP. The ‘special’ president rice was discovered in an ‘Operation Timbangan’ held by the local government of Valenzuela to check the accuracy of the weighing scales in their markets.
“Hindi kasali ang special rice sa MSRP but we will check,” de Mesa said.
(Special rice are exempted from the MSRP but we will check into it.)
The Valenzuela local government unit and Department of Trade and Industry on Wednesday, March 19, held an Operation Timbangan, which aims to ensure fair trade in their markets.
ONION IMPORTS
Meanwhile, 986 metric tons (MT) out of the expected 1000 MT of imported yellow onions have arrived in the country while 2,300 MT of red onions have also arrived out of expected 3,000 MT.
“Hindi na nadagdagan ang dumating na sibuyas,” De Mesa said. (ABS-CBN News)
